Many Colors
by AwakeningAngels
Summary: Tina Cohen-Chang, fed up with the attention Rachel Berry and Blaine Anderson are getting, takes a stand for every neglected ND member, and forms a new group to help them find their spotlights. Tina-centric. Samtina, Wildehart, Sugary/Sugartie, Brittana, etc.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**: Okay, so this is a fan fic that I've promised to write and finish in the summer, but things didn't go the way they planned. I had put it off for a while, and I felt like it wasn't going my way. But now that I've gotten back to it, I've decided to get the ball rolling and edit my first chapter.

So basically, this is a rewrite of season 3 of _Glee_ (maybe S4 when I have a sequel or something), but it's mainly focused on the neglected characters. I was inspired by the "Props" episode, along with a couple other fan fics I've read by other people.

**Summary**: Tina suffers through another year of barely getting any spotlight in the glee club. As she's forced to face more Blaine and Rachel solos, as well as seeing her fellow glee club members getting sidelined, Tina takes a stand. All of the neglected members are gathered up to form a new glee club, which promises them to receive more importance and belonging, which is what the glee club is truly about. But will Tina's new club succeed in achieving their goals?

**Story Notes**: So basically, in this fan fiction, Kitty Wilde is introduced, even though she wasn't in the third season. For all those who are wondering, I had written this prior to the "Lights Out" episode when it was confirmed that Kitty had transferred into McKinley after her…um, incident. Joe Hart arrives to McKinley a bit earlier than he does on _Glee_, too.

**Featured Pairings**: Finchel (Finn/Rachel), Brittana (Brittany/Santana), Klaine (Kurt/Blaine)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything related to _Glee_. All of the rights to the show go to Ryan Murphy and Co., and Twentieth Century Fox.

* * *

**Many Colors  
**Chapter One

* * *

_**Rachel with New Direction Girls  
**__But according to him  
__I'm beautiful, incredible  
__He can't get me out of his head_

_According to him  
__I'm funny and irresistible  
__Everything he ever wanted_

Tina Cohen-Chang could only roll her eyes at what she had to take a part of in the glee club this time. She was dancing back-up with people like Quinn Fabray, Mercedes Jones, Santana Lopez, and Brittany S. Pierce as Rachel Berry, female lead of New Directions, serenaded her loving boyfriend and fiancé, Finn Hudson in the choir room with an a capella number of Orianthi's _According to You_. Tina wasn't surprised, though. They were clearly in love with each other, and no one doubted that.

There was still a problem, though. Rachel literally did this kind of thing every time she was in the choir room for New Directions. She's always the main one singing a solo in front of the group, and about half of her solos would be targeted towards Finn – actually, not even _half_; maybe, like two-thirds. The only possible times Tina got to sing, she was either back-up for other people, or she would cry or get booed by someone.

The Asian girl looked ahead as Rachel sung her ambitious heart out towards Finn, who was grinning like a toddler with three scoops of strawberry ice cream. Her small pampered hand slapped the Titans quarterback lightly against his chest, which sent a shock through his body at that moment. Tina was nowhere near smiling, though. She didn't mind Finn and Rachel being lovey-dovey with each other, actually. It's just the constant number of times it's been done in front of New Directions.

Tina turned towards her right, and noticed Santana rolling her eyes. Brittany was beside her, giggling silently as the other girls continued singing. Tina knew Santana was tired of this crap as well. Actually, a lot of the girls in New Directions had to put up with Rachel. Tina wasn't really surprised.

_**Rachel with New Directions Girls  
**__Everything is opposite,  
__I don't feel like stopping it,  
__So baby tell me what I got to lose_

Tina suddenly got deep in thought about something. _I had a solo at Sectionals._ She can very well remember that day. Rachel, of all people, couldn't perform at Sectionals since she rigged the senior class president election for Kurt Hummel, Finn's stepbrother. Tina didn't really care for it, since it was Rachel and Kurt's problem – and the fact that Tina wasn't really into politics. The fact that Rachel got suspended and couldn't perform had Tina feeling overwhelmed (not the suspension part, that is). Tina actually got the opportunity to sing, and that's all that mattered.

The unfortunate part, though, in Tina's case… _That might be my last solo ever in a competition._

Tina didn't like to think negatively. She was normally a positive person, aside from her faking a stutter in her freshman year. However, New Directions had to win Nationals, and they believed that the only way they could win is if they had Rachel center stage. No one considered Tina. Or even people like Mercedes and Santana, for that matter, and Tina personally thought they had the two best voices in the group.

Plus, the New Directions had another…_secret weapon_ of some sorts: Blaine Anderson. Tina glanced at him for a moment, and watched him move his upper body to the music. Tina thought that Blaine was an okay guy, but he had every solo back when he was in Dalton Academy. Ever since he transferred into McKinley, he seemed to be getting a lot of solos, too.

_Yep, this seems to be my last competition solo…_ Tina thought, unfortunately.

_**Rachel with New Directions Girls  
**__He's into me for everything I'm not  
__According to you_

The girls of New Directions watched as Rachel did one of her adorable little-girl turns and hopped onto Finn's lap, poking slightly at his chest. Finn held onto her so she wouldn't fall off the side or anything, and everyone else in the room applauded her. Even newbie Sugar Motta was standing somewhere in the second row, fist pumping like a Yankees fan. She was told by Rachel that she couldn't perform back-up because she would distract the audience. Tina thought that was just plain petty of her.

"Job well done, Rachel," Tina heard the glee club director, Will Schuester speak from off the side by the piano, which earned him one of Rachel Berry's signature grins. "Now, guys, I have an announcement."

Tina, Santana, Mercedes, Quinn, and Brittany all took an empty seat in the audience chairs, and everyone quieted down to listen to the Spanish teacher's announcement. "I want to say that I'm proud of all of you for your hard work during Sectionals! It really paid off, and now we're on our way to Regionals."

Everyone in the room clapped good-naturedly, especially Tina, whose smile seemed to be wider than everyone else's.

Well…_almost_ everyone was clapping and smiling.

Tina noticed the expression on Rachel's face, and she was not amused at all. Her arms were crossed in front of her face, and she had that little pout she made when things didn't go her way. Finn, though, rubbed her arms for comfort. How charming.

In the corner of Tina's right eye, Quinn had her hand raised politely and patiently. Mr. Schuester chose her to speak. "Quinn, you wanted to say something?"

Quinn dropped her hand, and faced everyone in her chair with a sweet grin on her face. "With a bit of convincing, I got the Troubletones to return to New Directions, and I promised that they could sing a song at each competition, if that's okay."

Brittany was sitting on the other side of Rachel and Finn, clapping and cheering adorably, with Santana literally clutching onto her arms and hugging her. _They seem happy_, Tina noticed, which made her disappointed a bit. Yep, this sounded like Tina's last chance in ever getting a solo in a competition.

"That sounds like a generous deal, Quinn," Mr. Schue told the petite blonde. "I thank you for your appreciation."

Quinn smiled at him sweetly, and turned her head slightly to Santana and Brittany, giving them a wink. Tina smirked as she observed the Unholy Trinity's interactions.

"Yeah, thanks a lot, Q." Mercedes called from where she sat beside Sam Evans. He had given her that _I think you're awesome_ kind of look. _I think Sam is crushing on her_, Tina thought. It seemed pretty obvious.

"I personally welcome the Troubletones back into New Directions, and I'm positive that we'll be even stronger by Regionals," Rachel announced. "I propose a practice number in the auditorium to get a feel of what we sound like together again. Who's with me?"

Mr. Schue clapped his hands together at Rachel's suggestion. "Great idea, Rachel." Tina rolled her eyes. Of course, he would agree to anything Rachel says. _Teacher's pet._ "Anyone know what song we could sing together?"

All at once, the members of New Directions started shouting out different song suggestions.

"We should do Shakira's _Hips Don't Lie_," Sugar randomly called out from her seat.

"I request anything from _The Sound of Music_!" Kurt called, having Blaine to reach next to him and grab his shoulders, signaling him to take a seat.

Tina had so many ideas of what they should sing as a celebratory number. Usually when she's not dealing with school or the glee club, she would go to YouTube or ITunes just to find some songs to dance to. She had one stuck in her mind, and was willing to take a part in it.

"How about Fun's _We Are Young_?" Tina suggested. However, with everyone calling out stuff in the room, she couldn't be heard.

It wasn't until Rachel spoke up that made Tina's jaw drop. "We should do Fun's _We Are Young_!" she called to Mr. Schue with her hand high in the air, acting as if she didn't hear Tina at all.

Brittany turned to Rachel ultimately and smiled in agreement. "I love that song!" she replied. "That sounds just like me when I'm singing in the shower at seven in the morning."

Okay, Brittany had some things going on with her life…supposedly.

"Brilliant," Mr. Schue spoke up, quieting everyone else down. "It's been decided. We'll do Fun's _We Are Young_." Everyone started cheering in Rachel's direction, which put Tina down.

"Now, solo parts." Tina immediately perked back up. She was the one who originally mentioned the song idea, and was disappointed in Rachel stealing it from her. Regardless, though, she could still sing a solo, if she wanted.

Tina raised her hand, attempting to get Mr. Schue's attention. Unfortunately, he was busy gazing around the room at people who seemed just as eager as Tina was for a solo part in a song. Finally, it was clear that he had made a decision.

"Rachel and Finn, you two will get solos," Mr. Schue announced, which made Rachel eagerly hug the crap out of his fiancé. "Since we're using the song to rekindle the membership in the glee club, Santana and Mercedes will get solos as well." Mercedes, sitting a row behind Santana, tapped her on the shoulder and gave her a high five. "Sam, you get a solo as well. And how about Quinn, since you brought the Troubletones back for us?"

Tina could feel herself sinking in her chair in further disappointment. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't get herself to sing another solo. She had been trying since day one. Ever since Tina sung _Tonight_ from _West Side Story_ and feeling self-conscious about the way she sung compared to Rachel, she had given up her solo to the reigning road-to-Broadway hopeful.

And Tina had regret it ever since.

"Okay, guys," the Spanish teacher clapped his hands together. "Let's go on down to the auditorium, and try it out, shall we?"

At that moment, everyone had gathered their stuff, and followed Mr. Schue – along with a suddenly energetic Rachel Berry – out of the choir room, and towards the auditorium doors. Tina was somewhere in the back of the line of kids, walking down the hall with Santana and Brittany. She didn't expect for that to happen. Tina never really conversed with them.

"Someone crap in your coffee, Nina Cohen-Chang?" the Latina Cheerio spoke up first as she was observing her nails.

Tina inwardly sighed and tried faking her best smile. She really didn't appreciate it when people misspelled and mispronounced her name. Plus, she was having a bad day dealing with not getting a solo for the celebratory performance in the auditorium.

Tina turned her head towards the two Cheerios beside her. Then again, Santana and Brittany didn't like the unfair treatment in the glee club, either – well, that was mostly Santana; Brittany just wanted to chime in because she was Santana's girlfriend.

"Don't you find it…well, irritating that we don't get a lot of solos in the glee club as Rachel does?" Tina asked Santana rather timidly. "I mean, she's a good singer, but –"

Santana didn't even allow her to continue. "Rachel Berry, as claimed by the rest of the glee club, is better than _good_, Tina. She's the best singer out of all of us." The tone in her voice didn't sound convincing.

Tina simply shrugged. "Well, yeah, but –"

"And Quinn and Schuester offered to have us sing solos in competitions now," Santana continued, grabbing onto Brittany's arm. "So what is there to worry about?"

With a slight shrug and a swing of her cheerleader ponytail, Brittana walked further down the hall with the rest of the group, leaving Tina to stand there alone. _What about me not getting to sing at all?_ Tina thought unfortunately.

Too bad people can't read thoughts; Santana would've heard it by now.

* * *

Everyone had placed their belongings in the audience chairs, and sat on the stage as the band members started playing the music. Rachel, as usual, led the song and strolled her way past Quinn and Sam towards her boyfriend.

_**Rachel  
**__Give me a second, I,  
__I need to get my story straight  
__My friends are in the bathroom  
__Getting higher than the Empire State  
__My lover, he's waiting for me  
__Just across the bar  
__My seat's been taken by some sunglasses  
__Asking 'bout a scar and_

_**Finn  
**__I know I gave it to you months ago  
__I know you're tryin' to forget  
__But between the drinks and subtle things  
__The holes in my apologies  
__You know,  
__I'm trying hard to take it back_

_**Sam  
**__So if by the time  
__The bar closes_

_**Sam and Quinn  
**__And you feel like falling down  
__I'll carry you home_

Despite the fact that Tina was feeling disappointed about not singing a solo, she was actually proud to be in a group of people, who at first used to be a bunch of losers combined with a few jocks and some cheerleaders. Tina was still a part of a family, and nothing could change that.

_**Finn with New Directions  
**__Tonight  
__We are young_

Just when Tina was gazing at the present New Directions members in front of her, she turned her head to find Mercedes, Santana, Sugar, and Brittany standing to the side and watching the scene in front of them. Tina never really had a connection with either one of them, but in a way, she missed them.

_**Finn and Rachel with New Directions  
**__So let's set the world on fire  
__We can burn brighter  
__Than the sun (__**Mercedes**__: Whoa!)_

Once Mercedes caught everyone's attention with her harmonizing, everyone turned heads and were welcoming the Troubletones over to them.

_**Santana and Mercedes with New Directions  
**__Tonight  
__We are young (__**New Directions**__: We are young)  
__So let's set the world on fire (__**New Directions**__: Fire!)  
__We can burn brighter (__**New Directions**__: Brighter!)  
__Than the sun_

As a sweet gesture, Quinn decided to move from where she sat, and serenade the Troubletones with her solo part in the song. Everybody else just harmonized and watched as Quinn friendly grabbed Mercedes's hands and dance her towards the stage.

_**Quinn with New Directions harmonizing  
**__Carry me home tonight  
__Just carry me home tonight  
__Carry me home tonight  
__Just carry me home tonight_

Once Quinn returned to the stage with Mercedes, Artie and Rory walked over to greet the remaining girls. Brittany cheerfully jumped into Rory's arms, giving him a tight, sweet hug; and Sugar had hopped onto Artie's lap, giving Artie a shoulder hug as he wheeled her towards center stage.

The last to join was Santana.

_**Quinn with New Directions  
**__Carry me home tonight (__**Santana with New Directions**__: The angels never arrived, but I can hear the choir)  
__Just carry me home tonight (__**Santana with New Directions**__: So someone come and carry me home)_

Tina will admit that Santana had been pretty unfair to New Directions lately, especially about Sectionals. Tina couldn't tell whether it was because she was angry about Finn outing her, or getting the opportunity to sing and attempt to win due to Rachel being suspended.

Lucky for Santana, regardless of whatever she was thinking during that little phase in the school year, Rachel was willing to forgive her and be friends with her again. Tina noticed this when she caught the short brunette walking over to grab Santana's hand.

_**Rachel  
**__Tonight  
__We are young_

Santana smiled at Rachel's offer to come back to the original glee club, and took her hand, allowing Rachel to lead her over to Finn. Once the girls were over there, Finn grabbed Santana into a massive bear hug.

_**Rachel with Finn  
**__So let's set the world on fire  
__We can burn brighter  
__Than the sun_

_**Mercedes  
**__We are young!_

_**Santana with New Directions  
**__Tonight (__**Mercedes**__: Yeah!)  
__We are young (__**New Directions**__: We are young!)_

_**Santana and Mercedes with New Directions  
**__So let's set the world on fire (__**New Directions**__: Fire!)  
__We can burn brighter (__**New Directions**__: Brighter!)  
__Than the sun_

Everyone seemed happier this way than they were before. Earlier, the group seemed broken in half when the Troubletones were lost. Now it felt better than it ever did before. It was…something _special_.

_**Finn and Rachel  
**__So if by the time  
__The bar closes  
__And you feel like falling down  
__I'll carry  
__You home  
__Tonight_

The number ended peacefully, and commotion was brought up again when Mr. Schue met with everyone onstage. Everyone applauded and cheered, eventually leading into a group hug.

Somewhere in the middle of the pack, Tina felt snug with everyone bunched up together. This moment with her New Directions members couldn't be any better.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Hey, everyone. This is the first chapter to _Many Colors_, and I hope you all enjoyed it. Oh, and BTDubs, I found out about my nomination for best Joe fic + Joe writer. This now motivates me to keep writing. I _really_ want to continue TMHTL. Actually, I _have_ to. But I've been really busy this summer, IDK why. Sorry for the delay.

Also, in bad news: I may have to delete two of my fan fictions. One of them being _Chronicle _Guardian (Joe fan fiction), and Popular (Quinn and Kitty fan fiction). See, CG has, like, 31 pages per chapter, and I don't have the time to type all of that. And with Popular…well, I just had too many high hopes with that one. I'll try to work things out. But for right now, I'm not really sure what I'm doing.

Anyways, stay tuned for more updates on my fan fiction. Peace and love, guys!

* * *

**Featured Songs**:  
"According to You" by Orianthi. Sung by Rachel Berry with New Directions Girls  
"We Are Young" by fun. Sung by Rachel, Finn, Santana, Mercedes, Sam, and Quinn with New Directions


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note**: Here's the second chapter to my fan fiction series, _Many Colors_. May you all sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

**Featured Pairings**: Tike (Tina/Mike), Brittana (Brittany/Santana), Finchel (Finn/Rachel), Friendship!Tartie (Tina/Artie)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything related to _Glee_. All of the rights to the show go to Ryan Murphy and Co., and Twentieth Century Fox.

* * *

**Many Colors  
**Chapter Two

* * *

_Okay, smile, Miss Tina Cohen-Chang._ Tina had been at her locker for the past twenty minutes, staring herself in the little mirror inside the door. _Stay relaxed. This is your day, remember that. No one's gonna take it away from you._ The Asian girl gave herself a chance to breath for a second, and give herself some positive pep talk. Once she was done, the locker slammed shut, and Tina had everything she needed.

Tina didn't understand why school started at eight in the morning. It seemed too early for work, but what would she know? She hadn't received a job yet or anything.

_Stay relaxed, Tina. It's early, but you'll make it through the day._ Her conscious was the best at giving advice.

She continued to walk down the hall, trying to make it to breakfast before classes started. She turned a corner, and spotted none other than Rachel Berry standing about seven feet away, conversing with Mr. Schue.

Tina didn't like the idea of spying on people, but she had to see what was going on. So she hid around the corner, and made a cup shape with her hand to put up to her ear. Tina could make out a bit of what Rachel was speaking with Mr. Schuester about. It wasn't clear, but she got a good idea on what it was about.

"Rachel, we don't even know the theme for Regionals, or our competitors," Mr. Schue explained in a way that Rachel wouldn't be put down or anything.

However, Rachel was still literally on her toes, pleading in Mr. Schue's face. "Come on, Mr. Schue," she begged. "I missed Sectionals this year, and I have to be able to get into NYADA next fall. You don't know how much this means to me. My life depends on this – college, Broadway, pursuing my goals – _everything_!"

Tina deadpanned. She knew what this was.

It had been confirmed earlier on that Rachel, alongside Kurt, is trying to get accepted into one of the most prestigious performing arts schools in New York: New York Academy of Dramatic Arts, otherwise known as NYADA. Tina never heard of that school, honestly (and didn't seem to care, at the same time).

She wanted Rachel to get into college, though. She just didn't see why she had to get a solo at Regionals to do it.

"Rachel, I'm positive that you'll be fine," Mr. Schue responded with a chuckle. "And even if you don't get into NYADA, there are other colleges and universities willing to take you –"

Rachel literally shook Mr. Schue with rejection. "No, no, no," she replied. "NYADA is the right school for me – no, the _perfect_ school for me! I can't go anywhere else; I have to be in New York. _New York_! This is my opportunity to perfect my skills and follow in Barbra's footsteps."

Tina inwardly rolled her eyes at Rachel's attempts to win over a solo at Regionals. The reason she had for it, too, didn't seem appealing, either. _Kurt's trying to get in that school, too, but I don't see him whining and pleading like a five-year-old to get it_. Tina really wanted to say that under her breath, but she knew she couldn't.

Every time Tina looked at Rachel, now, she felt her hopes in getting a solo getting lower and lower. Tina only had one solo in a competition – well, it wasn't a _solo_ solo, but it was close to being one. And for the next few competitions, she might not get another one. She knew ultimately that this year, she won't get one due to everyone showing favoritism towards Rachel.

Just when Tina was about to continue eavesdropping on Rachel and Mr. Schue's conversation, she felt someone tap her should slightly. "Tina?" The junior girl turned her head to find her boyfriend of two years, Mike Chang. "What are you doing?"

Tina glanced up at her talented dancing boyfriend, smiling at him sweetly. "Nothing, I just…" Well, what _was_ Tina doing anyway?

Mike's eyes narrowed at her. "Something seems up," he explained as he saw the expression on Tina's face. At that moment, his eyes were directed towards the glee club director and the female lead. "Were you spying on them?" he asked, pointing towards Rachel and Mr. Schue.

Tina furrowed her eyebrows, trying to fake everything as much as she can. "Them?" she asked for further clarification. "Oh, no. Why do you think that?"

However, Mike knew she was lying anyway. It seemed apparent.

Tina sighed, rolling her eyes. "Okay, fine. You figured me out." Mike smirked at her and offered to take her to breakfast.

Before they left that wing of the hallway, Tina turned her head towards Rachel, who had finally given up on asking Mr. Schue for a Regionals solo, and had gone to find Finn. "Do you find that irritating at all?" Tina asked Mike as they continued walking.

"Find what irritating?" Mike asked with a confused look on his face.

"Rachel. I mean, she sings in almost every competition, yet she still asks for more," Tina explained. "It's like solos are her daily meals or something."

Mike replied with a shrug. "It's her senior year, and she wants to get into NYADA. Is that her fault?"

"No, not necessarily. But what about the people that have been in the glee club for quite a while who haven't gotten competition solos? They might want one, too, you know."

"Tina, you'll get yours next year," Mike explained. "It's the seniors' last year at McKinley. They won't be here anymore afterwards."

"Yeah, but –"

The pair made a sudden halt, and Mike turned towards his girlfriend. "Does this have anything to do with what happened at Sectionals?" he asked, concerned.

Tina sighed yet again. "Mike, that was the first time I felt like I got a standing ovation for something I took a part in. Usually when I perform for the glee club or any other audience, I either get booed at, or I can't even finish the song! Sometimes, I even cry my eyes out, especially when it's one of those really depressing songs –"

"Tina, you've got to trust me," Mike pleaded. "This is only your junior year. I'm sure you'll get a solo next year. I promise."

The Asian dancer leaned in to kiss Tina on the cheek, which she didn't accept as well, and linked hands with her, leading her down the hallway to find the cafeteria.

Once they made it there, they made a few weave turns between the tables to sit beside members of the glee club that had already made it inside. Rachel was giving Finn some type of command about what happened between her and Mr. Schue that no one seemed to care about, Santana had her head rested on Brittany's shoulder, Artie was playing a round of _Angry Birds_ on his IPhone, and Mercedes and Blaine questioningly eyed Kurt's brought-from-home breakfast, which looked like some eggs on top of French toast – he said they were croustades – and some apple juice in a glass.

Santana, who appeared to be annoyed by listening to Rachel's cries for help across the table, she lifted her head off of Brittany's shoulder, and folded her arms, deadpanning at her and the freakishly-tall quarterback. "Can you sound any more childish, Berry?" she asked dryly. "It's just a damn solo at a glee club competition."

"You don't understand, Santana. This is more complex than that," Rachel explained. "I'm literally competing with not only other show choirs in the nation, but also hopefuls that are willing to head on into NYADA and make their dreams come true. I want this – I _need_ this. Do you know how many times I've mentioned achieving my goal in making it to Broadway?"

It was silent for nearly two seconds. Santana just rolled her eyes, and leaned into Brittany again. "I don't know, two-hundred?" she responded sarcastically, which earned a couple of giggles from Tina and Brittany.

Finn suddenly had a confused facial expression showing. "Do we even know the theme for Regionals…?"

"No, but you, of all people, should know how Rachel is when it comes to show choir competition," Santana directed her attention towards Finn. "You two already nuzzle into each other like you've been married for five years now."

Kurt rolled his eyes at the bitchy Cheerio. "Alright, Santana. Cut it out." She didn't say anything further, and Brittany continuously rubbed her arm for comfort. "Finn is right, though. We don't really know the theme for Regionals, but we can still prepare ourselves."

Blaine nods his head in agreement. "I agree; if we want to be stronger at Regionals, like Rachel mentioned earlier, we need to practice with a few numbers."

Mercedes had been leaning her cheek against her hand for the past few minutes already, deep in thought. "You know, New Directions _needs_ to perform more Michael Jackson, especially now that the Troubletones returned to the group and the fact that we never got a chance to."

While everyone else nodded their heads, Santana was still laying there beside Brittany, disappointed in the Troubletones' second-placing against New Directions. "What really irks me is how the Troubletones could possibly lose Sectionals when they had the best singers." Santana's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and her head rose from Brittany's shoulder, eyes facing the blonde. "Was that judge high or something?" Brittany shrugged in response.

Mercedes rolled her eyes and leaned back on the bench, hitting Santana's back and making her jump a bit. "Hello? One word: Michael!"

While Mercedes and Santana were going back and forth, Artie sat there at the end of the table beside Tina, nearly daydreaming once the word _Michael_ came out of Mercedes' mouth. "When I was one, I watched his Motown special on a VHS tape," he randomly spoke, dreamily. Everyone had their attention towards him. "He did the moonwalk across the stage for the first time in history, and then I uttered my first words: _Hot damn!_"

The Latina rolled her eyes once more. Tina felt bad for her, thinking of how she would look like years from now if she kept doing that. "You done living in your little fan-boy world yet?" she asked, unimpressed and opening a piece of gum she retrieved from her varsity jacket pocket. Artie's head fell a bit at Santana's reaction.

Rachel had been sitting beside Finn for the past few seconds, thinking about Mercedes' suggestion to sing more Michael Jackson solos. "You know, I never really got the idea of him, honestly."

Once that was said, everyone shot daggers from their eyes to Rachel's. Artie just rolled his eyes at his sudden loss of dignity in the Broadway-bound teenager. "And…we are no longer speaking to you."

"What? I mean, he's a great performer and all, but I never really got him." Rachel tried her best to get everyone's understanding, but she clearly knew that they had given up on her.

Santana shrugged. "I would really want to have a scalding cup of mocha to toss at your face right now," she responded to Rachel, earning another arm rub from Brittany.

Rachel held up her arms in defense. "Okay, since you guys are jazzed about Michael, it could probably be a good idea to perform Michael for Regionals."

Everyone nodded in agreement, especially Tina. She had a lot of Michael songs planned, if they agree to do it at Regionals. Sure, the theme is still undetermined, but Michael Jackson must have something related in his discography for New Directions to use.

Tina couldn't contain herself internally. _I love Michael Jackson's songs. Maybe I can get a chance at a solo after all._

* * *

Things were more cheerful earlier in the day; but when classes started, the day started to become more lifeless as it passed by. Tina was stuck in fourth period with her American Literature teacher, Miss Winchester. She was sort of an older lady, relatively in her forties or fifties.

Tina didn't care as much for her, though. She made the day even more boring than it already was. "An example of…uh…" the English teacher turned behind her towards a sheet of paper with the lesson plan typed on it. "Oh, okay – parallel structure." She took a piece of chalk and wrote awfully slow on the chalkboard. "My…older brother, Nathan, is…better at…"

Tina rolled her eyes in boredom. She had enough of school already, more-so because the teachers were either annoying, flat-out rude, or they just so happened to drone the life out of completely _everything_.

Suddenly, she felt her phone vibrate in her purse. Who the hell was trying to call her during class? Tina checked the caller ID, and saw a familiar number. Her eyes then gazed around the room until she could see Artie near the front row of the classroom with his IPhone in his hands. By the looks of his slumped shoulders and his face almost falling to the desk, he probably needed to get entertained or get more sleep.

Glancing back at Artie's message, Tina couldn't help but giggle on the inside.

**From**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 20 10:55 a.m.)  
_Zzzzz…_

Tina, with her hands and her phone under the desk so no one else would notice, sent a quick message to Artie's phone.

**To**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 20 10:55 a.m.)  
_Don't tell me. This lady's boring you, too, right?_

The Asian junior almost regret it after seeing Artie giggle from what looked like three whole miles away. Miss Winchester turned her head as if she saw a ghost. "Anyone hear that? Was that a rat?" She sounded so awkwardly loud for no reason, and everyone took it as if she had really lost her marbles.

Artie glanced back down at his phone and typed on the touch screen keyboard as fast as his little fingers could go.

Tina inwardly smirked as Artie sent the message back to her. Her eyes suddenly fell down to the phone underneath the desk in her hands.

**From**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 20 10:55 a.m.)  
_Hells yes. Hey, you think Mr. Schue is gonna make us do Michael?_

**To**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 20 10:55 a.m.)  
_How can't he? Michael is a legend, and we've never done his music in the glee club before._

**From**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 20 10:56 a.m.)  
_Mr. Schue has got to let me do a solo. Michael is the KING of all pop music, and I can do his music justice. Hashtag. #Don'tMeanToBrag_

**To**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 20 10:56 a.m.)  
_I believe you, Artie. And MJ is your number one idol. No one else in the glee club can take that from you._

All of a sudden, Tina and Artie could hear an unattractive snort come from the front of the room. They both immediately looked up from their phones and looked around the room. Students were still trying to pay attention – well, some of them were. Others were giggling and nearly laughing their heads off at the teacher's unusual yet comical behavior.

Miss Winchester had fallen asleep at the chalk board after about five minutes of writing down some practice sentences for the whole class to work on. Tina rolled her eyes playfully at how she acted. It's not like she actually cared, though, because she really didn't.

Once the woman went back to writing, Tina glanced back down at her phone. She noticed that Artie had stopped texting her. She gazed over at him, and he seemed to be on yet his fifth round of _Temple Run_ or whatever stupid game he was addicted to. Tina still wanted to talk to him, though, so she sent another message.

**To**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 20 10:56 a.m.)  
_Do you think Mr. Schue would give me an MJ solo?_

Tina waited for about a few seconds until she got the notice that Artie replied, and then started reading what he had said.

**From**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 20 10:57 a.m.)  
_He should. You have a great voice, Tina. I don't see why not._

Tina smiled generously at the paraplegic's last comment. Tina and Artie were good friends and everything, despite them breaking up in the past due to Artie's _Halo_ addiction, and Tina having the hots for Mike Chang. In their time of wonder or worry, though, Tina and Artie give each other great advice.

Class still wasn't over yet, so the two had to slave through the whole period watching Miss Winchester fall asleep and stumble over the leg of her wheelie chair. People around them started paying no attention to her, and some even laughed at the sight.

Yet Tina still didn't bother to care. She just wanted to get out of there.

* * *

Somehow, the rest of the school day passed awful quickly, and Tina and Artie found themselves walking down the hallway towards glee club practice.

"I seriously thought I was going to _die_ in seventh period," Tina explained to Artie as she held onto the bars of his wheelchair, rubbing her aching back. "Coach Beiste is a lovable person, but we're not football players." Below her, Tina noticed the silent shrug come from Artie, and then remembered his acceptance into the football club last year. "Well, in your case, not anymore."

Still, Artie shrugged yet again and continued wheeling down the hallway, with Tina walking alongside him. "Doesn't matter," he responded. It was clear that he had something – well, _one_ thing – on his mind. "I'm just pumped for glee club today."

Tina could easily agree. To the both of them, the glee club made every class in school irrelevant to them (not that they won't slip up and fall behind like Noah Puckerman did).

Once the two made it towards the choir room, they both could hear a familiar MJ tune playing inside. They were greeted by Brittany and Santana twirling around in their Cheerios uniforms, with Artie visibly getting the best view of Brittany's underwear, which had him crane back but look down at her long, slender legs at the same time.

Once the song playing inside got to the chorus part, Blaine Anderson hopped out and greeted Tina and Artie with a big smile on his face, his arms out, and his legs moving to create his best dance moves.

_**Blaine with New Directions  
**__I said you wanna be startin' somethin'  
__You got to be startin' somethin'  
__I said you wanna be startin' somethin'  
__You got to be startin' somethin'_

The energetic former Dalton Academy Warbler had turned around towards the entrance to the choir room, and started dancing his way inside, with Santana pushing Artie's wheelchair and Brittany grabbing Tina's hand, nearly pulling her to an empty seat beside Mike Chang.

_**Blaine (New Directions)  
**__I took my baby to the doctor  
__With a fever but nothing he found  
__By the time this hit the street  
__They said she had a breakdown!_

_(__**New Directions**__: Aaah) Someone's always trying,  
__(__**New Directions**__: Aaah) To start my baby crying  
__(__**New Directions**__: Aaah) Talkin', squealin', lyin'  
__Sayin' (__**New Directions**__: You just wanna be startin' somethin')_

_**Blaine  
**__Lift your head up high  
__And scream out to the world_

_**Blaine with New Directions  
**__I know I am someone  
__And let the truth unfurl_

_**Blaine  
**__No one can hurt you now  
__Because you know it's true_

_**Blaine with New Directions  
**__Yes, I believe in me  
__So you believe in you (__**Blaine**__: Help me sing it!)_

Everyone in the choir room seemed to be having a good time dancing along to the music, especially Artie. Tina could just smile at his sudden fan-boying for the late pop artist.

_**New Directions (Blaine)  
**__Mama se, mama se, mama coo sa! (__**Blaine**__: Sing it to the world!)  
__Mama se, mama se, mama coo sa! (__**Blaine**__: Sing it out loud!)  
__Mama se, mama se, mama coo sa!_

By the time he had completed the number, everyone in the room applauded his performance. Both Santana and Brittany were out of breath from all of the back-up dancing they just did. Once the girls and Blaine took a seat, Mr. Schue had stood up from where he sat in the second row between Sam and Rory.

"I like the effort in your number, Blaine," Mr. Schue critiqued. "And what a wonderful idea it is to perform MJ for Regionals!" Everyone suddenly cheered once they heard that statement. "Michael Jackson _is_, in fact, a phenomenon and an inspiration to all of us. Speaking of inspiration…" He walked back to the dry-erase board, and wrote the word _inspiration_ in big, black letters. "We finally know our theme for Regionals."

Another round of applause went around. People like Puck and Finn started high-fiving each other, and Rachel was giddily smiling and cheering in delight. Now that they knew what the theme was, Tina could easily find some inspirational MJ numbers she could take a part in.

Before she could find anything to suggest, Mr. Schue had his eyes set on the people shouting out things around the room. He heard Puck speak up first. "Dude, we _have_ to do _Beat It_," he suggested. "He, like, inspired people to not be a wimp, right?"

Somewhere next to him, Santana rolled her eyes and glared at the absent-minded puck head. "The song is clearly about ass-kicking, you dork."

Brittany, Santana's dancing girlfriend, had her mind focused on something other than coming up with possible MJ numbers. "Didn't Michael play versus LA once?" she asked, dumbfounded as usual.

"That was Jordan, Brittany," Mr. Schue sighed as he took his attention away from the former jock-cheerleader couple.

The glee club director then spotted Artie with his left hand raised.

"Mr. Schue, _The Earth Song_ has to be done!" he exclaimed. "I know that song like the back of my hand." Tina loved Artie's suggestion of _The Earth Song_. It was kind of a difficult number for anyone in the glee club to tackle, but Tina was confident in Artie killing it.

"Hey, Mr. Schue. How about _Black And White_?" the tall and quirky Frankenteen beside Rachel Berry suggested. "That's kind of an inspirational song, right?"

More people started to talk over one another, which was a pretty overwhelming feeling in Mr. Schue's eyes. And pretty much every song selection that was called out, Sugar stood up from her chair, attempting to sing a couple of lines from the different tunes, which made Tina smirk a bit. She never noticed Sugar much before, but she was a really cute and energetic person.

"Okay, guys," Mr. Schue called out with a smile on his face, "settle down." The room got quiet again as the students paid close attention to Mr. Schue. "I think I have a clear idea on what our set list should look like." Everyone suddenly got anxious as they watched him write in a yellow notepad that had been sitting on the black piano.

Tina turned to her right, and watched as Artie was nearly dying of excitement on the inside. No one could be more passionate about Michael Jackson than Artie was, especially at that moment.

Once Mr. Schue stopped scribbling words on a sheet of paper, he looked up to face everyone. "For our opening number, we're gonna have a mash-up of _Beat It_ – suggested by Puck –" once his name was said, Puck took a bow where he sat "- and _Bad_, which will be a number done by the Troubletones."

Once they heard the name of their former group, Santana and Brittany gave each other high-fives, Sugar pumped her fist in the air, and Mercedes clapped for herself and her fellow Troubletones members.

Mr. Schue continued on with the list. "Then, for the ballad, we're going to have _I Just Can't Stop Loving You_ –"

"Which, of course, Finn and I have to take a part in as well," Rachel spoke up, gesturing to herself and her future husband.

"And, for the final number, we're going to have Brittany, Kurt, Blaine, Finn, Rachel, Mercedes, and Quinn do _Heal The World_," Mr. Schue continued. Once he was done, more applauses were heard in the room.

Unfortunately, neither Tina nor Artie seemed to agree.

Tina couldn't help but look at the melancholy look on Artie's face knowing that he won't be able to do Michael at Regionals. Add that to the song he suggested not being considered by Mr. Schue, and that was two let downs of the day.

Just when Mr. Schue was about to announce something else, he saw Tina's hand go up. "Yes, Tina?" he picked on her to speak.

Once her hand went down, Tina gestured to her and Artie. "Mr. Schue, what about me and Artie?"

"What about you and Artie?"

Tina's shoulders slumped. "What if we want to do Michael at Regionals?" she explained. "Michael is literally Artie's idol, and I rarely get to solo at competitions. Maybe we would want to sing, too."

Just when this was heard by the rest of the glee club, Mike groaned inwardly, hiding his face from everyone but attempting to get Tina's situation. "Tina, please don't do this?"

Tina heard him beside her, and whirled around in shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, especially from her own boyfriend. "Don't do what? Everyone in this room knows it's true. The only time I get to sing in a competition is when Rachel's not there to upstage everyone." Once her name was heard, Rachel leaned forward to get a better look at her. "There are other people in this room who can't even get one song out of their system without Rachel taking over."

"Tina, honey," Rachel spoke up, "you don't understand; I need this –"

"Need it for what?" Tina asked, turning in her direction. "You sing almost every week. You should be done with trying to stress your voice and taking away everyone's spotlight."

Rachel smoothed down the red school-girl skirt she was wearing, and stood up from her seat. "See, that's the thing you don't understand, Tina," Rachel explained. "I am glee's biggest star. I am literally the invincible. New Directions need me to perform so we can lead our way to victory, and I personally need it to get to Broadway in New York."

"You pretend like you need it, but you just want to be selfish," Tina barked back, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "There are people in here that barely get to sing in the group, and you want to take away their moments in front of an audience? Can you at least take consideration in other people, for once?"

The argument between the two girls was stopped by Mr. Schue, who clapped his hands together once and walked over to stand in between them. "Girls, that's enough," he said, and neither Tina nor Rachel said another word. "Now Tina, you were able to sing at Sectionals, remember? Besides, she's a senior, and she'll be graduating soon. When you come back to the glee club next year, it'll be your turn."

Tina's mood still didn't change at the moment. She still couldn't believe what she just heard from her own glee club director. She thought he was fair with people; but he showed just as much favoritism towards Rachel as the rest of the glee club. Tina couldn't take it anymore.

She felt a hand grab her wrist and tug her down, and she turned in Artie's direction right next to her. "Tina, it's okay," he spoke with a disappointed tone in his voice. "I'll get to solo some other time."

Tina wasn't going to give up on him. Tina and Artie have been friends ever since they joined the glee club, and they're currently the most neglected of the original five members of the glee club. Screw the grades of each member; that didn't matter, not at all.

"No!" Tina exclaimed, which pretty much everyone heard in the room. It was a deadly quiet in the room, but Tina didn't care. She had a chance to say what she had to say. Her hands balled up into really tight fists as if she was going to punch someone in the face, which made Artie let go of her.

Yep. Tina was extremely mad.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Ooh, looks like we have Tina rage! What did you guys think? I'm glad you guys like the story so far. Gonna write the next chapter later.

* * *

**Featured Songs**:  
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" by _Michael Jackson_. Sung by Blaine Anderson with New Directions


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note**: Hey guys. I have written my third chapter to my fic, _Many Colors_, and I'm very excited to present it to you all. I've noticed when I woke up on Wednesday that my fan fic reached around 200 views, and I wasn't expecting that. I'm not the kind of person that's into writing fan fics just for the views and popularity, but I just want to thank the ones that are taking their time to read what I've presented to you. Anyways, here's the third chapter, and I hope you all enjoy it!

**Featured Pairings**: Tike (Tina/Mike), Minor!Finchel (Finn/Rachel), Samtina (Sam/Tina)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything related to _Glee_. All of the rights to the show go to Ryan Murphy and Co., and Twentieth Century Fox.

* * *

**Many Colors  
**Chapter Three

* * *

Silence. No one made a peep in the room, not even the band members that were lingering on the side and playing their instruments. This was the first time in a long time that the glee club was actually quiet and watching and listening what Tina was up to.

Tina wasn't hoping for this to be what it has to be, but her anger was building up too much. She wanted justice. Not just for her, but for Artie, too. Hell, she wanted it for _everybody_. The way Mr. Schue was treating them wasn't fair to her. She just sat in a chair and got whatever was handed to her while keeping that dazzling smile on her face, while everyone else has to slave away just to get a solo, which ends up being rare opportunities for some people in the glee club.

And then there was the former Dalton Academy student, Blaine Anderson, who just transferred to McKinley at the beginning of the school year, yet he got handed solos whenever he wanted. Hell, sometimes he doesn't get handed _anything_, but freely assigns himself some solos to sing in front of the glee club. This isn't Dalton, and it never will be; it will always stand as William McKinley High School, and New Directions runs it like it's their castle (except that they're some of the biggest underdogs in the school).

"Tina?" Mr. Schue broke the fifteen seconds of silence. It was now strange to hear his voice, since everyone else sounded startled by the way Tina yelled out in front of the whole group.

Even Artie himself was getting a bit nervous, as he was rubbing his hands in front of him on his lap, looking around at the many faces of members of the glee club. He tried getting Tina's attention again. "Tina, maybe we should just – "

"No." Tina spoke up again, but not as loud as she previously said it. "The glee club is about feeling important and being a part of something, right?" Tina asked her handicapped friend, still staring straight ahead of her. "Well, I don't feel important in this club. In fact, I feel like a prop or some type of decoration, and I'm tired of it!"

Mr. Schue furrowed his eyebrows together. "Tina, we've already told you this. You'll get your chance to sing next year, I promise. Right now, the graduates have to get their songs out of the way before –"

"Mr. Schue, you and I both know what this is," Tina interrupted, turning her head towards her, nearly balling up her fists up a bit tighter. She didn't want to punch him, but she was tired of his favoritism. "This is not about the _graduates_; this is about Rachel Berry taking everything from everyone, and not just the undergrads. We've been stuck with the Rachel Berry show since day one, and it needs to change!"

Right next to her in his seat, Mike Chang leaned forward to get a better look at Tina's heated facial expression. "Tina, I told you already. There are people graduating, and you're just –"

"Don't say it!" Tina exclaimed, turning around towards her disappointed boyfriend. "Like I said, this is not about who's graduating or not. Hell, Blaine Anderson is a junior like I am, and he gets just as much solos in the glee club as Rachel does. He gets more than all of you boys put together."

Once Tina pointed to every male in the room excluding Blaine and Mr. Schue, Puck, Rory, and Artie's heads sunk, ashamed. Finn looked confused, but he recalled the beginning of the school year when Blaine looked as if he was gonna take over things. Now he really wanted to give Blaine a piece of his mind. Blaine eyed Tina with a bit of a melancholy look, realizing that what she was saying was kind of true.

"Now, now, Tina," Rachel spoke up, getting out of her seat once again and smoothing down her skirt. "Mr. Schue has caught something in Blaine and I that he clearly doesn't see with everyone else, not that he doesn't see anything at all." Once they heard this, Santana and Mercedes nearly rolled their eyes at her. "In addition, I would like to point out that I _am_ the female lead of New Directions, and I'm one of the factors that leads us to victory."

"Shouldn't the female lead take a lesson in something called _sharing_, for once?" Tina asked, dryly.

On the left side of Rachel in the second row, Sugar can be heard instigating and clapping her hands once together. "Ooh, burn!" she exclaimed, reaching over towards Brittany to give her a high five.

Annoyed, Rachel turned around towards Sugar and leaned forward. "Um, excuse me?" she asked politely, and Sugar listened. "This is between Tina and I. This isn't reality TV anymore, munchkin." Once she heard that, Sugar made a pouty facial expression and leaned back in her chair, disappointed. Luckily, Brittany rubbed her back for comfort.

"You can't say that to her," Tina spoke up, looking Rachel dead in the eye. "She has a right to speak, too. In fact, although she's not the best singer in this club, she's the most overlooked."

"I think she gave us enough evidence to show that she doesn't have a vocal background, thank you very much," Rachel retorted. Sugar cringed at Rachel's hurting words.

Right next to her, Finn had grabbed her fiancé's arm and tugged it lightly. "Come on, guys. Can we just –"

"Finn, women are speaking." Rachel said immediately, which made Finn lean back awkwardly.

"Oh, and your whole '_this is reality TV_' thing? This is real enough as it's gonna get, Rachel Berry," Tina responded, which earned a few oohs from people like Brittany and Puck. "Everyone in here doesn't get their share of what they deserve because it's been taken away from them by you and the Warbler pip as well!" Blaine cringed at what Tina just said about her. "You just _have_ to be front and center to try to own the world, while we all stand as your props. I hate being props; I want equality for all of us!"

As he couldn't take it anymore, Mr. Schue barged from where he sat beside the piano, and eyed Tina with furious eyes. "Tina, I am very disappointed in you!" he exclaimed, which made everyone else feel a bit nervous. "This is not you at all. The old Tina wouldn't be so rude as to call out her fellow New Directions members like that."

Tina deadpanned her glee club director and folded her arms across her chest. "Well, I guess things have changed around here, didn't they?" she asked simply. Behind her, Artie looked away in shock in amazement at Tina's tone and comeback words, and Mike just had his face hidden in his hands in embarrassment.

Mr. Schue almost let loose a bit of steam from his system, and then Santana spoke up a second before he did. "No need to blow your top off, Tuna." She sounded calm from where she was sitting; Tina, however, wasn't taking it at all. She already had to deal with Rachel, Blaine, and Mr. Schue; but she'll be damned if she would have to deal with anyone else's petty jokes about her.

"My name is _Tina_! Tina! Cohen! Chang!"

The room was dead silent again. Not even Santana would get up and try to out-bitch the poor Asian girl. Things would've gotten a little _too_ heated then, if that would've happened.

The heated young girl turned on her heel and stormed out of the choir room, slamming the door shut behind her. Mike Chang was getting frustrated with her behavior at that point, and decided to follow her in the hallway. As Rachel couldn't stand the nonsense, she decided to follow her as well.

Tina, her arms still crossed in front of her, made a few weaves around corners towards somewhere she hoped no one would find her. It was pretty difficult, though. She didn't know where to go. She could easily run into the library without making a lot of noise, but the library was too far away.

"Tina!" Mike called from around the corner, and Tina reluctantly made a stop in her tracks. How did he catch up with her so fast? She didn't want to know, really. She just wanted to be alone at the moment.

Mike ran around the corner and made a stop in front of her. "What was that all about? Like Schuester said, this isn't like you!" He was in just as much rage as Tina was.

"How come every time Rachel demands for a solo, she's claiming her stardom; and when I'm doing it, it's considered selfish?" Tina bared, putting her hands on her hips. "She gets more solos than everyone, and people think it's okay for her to get whatever she wants."

Mike didn't know what to say anymore. He felt as if he was losing his head. "Tina, all you have to do is just wait for the seniors to get their –"

"You want me to give a chance to let Rachel suck up every solo there is?" Tina asked, furious. "And let me remind you that people like you and Brittany don't even sing as much; you _dance_!"

"Dancing is what I like to do, and I'm sure it's what Brittany likes to do, too," Mike explained, folding his arms. "Maybe not everyone wants to have a solo all of the time. Have you ever considered that instead of constantly trying to yell at Rachel and Mr. Schue all of the time?"

Tina was now quiet, and not saying a word. Although she thought that it could be true, she didn't think so. She couldn't help but remember Sugar speaking up in the room, and Rachel basically telling her to shut up and stuff. It seemed to hurt, if one were in Sugar's situation. At first, she was a diva and walking in the choir room with open arms and the individuality. Then she was being criticized by people in the glee club due to the fact that she can't actually sing.

"You need to learn to be patient and wait for when your time will come." Mike spoke up again, angrily shaking his head at his girlfriend. "I'm really disappointed in you, Tina." With that, he turned around and headed back to the choir room, leaving Tina by herself in the hallway.

Before Tina could walk any further, she heard the sound of Rachel's voice, as if it followed her everywhere she went. "Tina!" the Broadway-bound girl called, making Tina stop in her tracks. Once they met eye to eye, Rachel spoke up once again. "I understand your frustration in the glee club, and your thoughts and feelings about being sidelined and singing all of the oohs and ahs in competitions and everything. So, I would like to inform you that you're being heard."

Tina didn't care; she had a point to get out of her system anyway. It wasn't until Rachel pulled out a fifty dollar bill from her wallet, holding it out towards Tina's direction, that made the Asian girl want to blow up in irritation. "Which is why I'm offering you fifty dollars to hold in any and all frustrations until after Regionals."

"I don't want your damn money, Rachel," Tina replied, folding her arms. "I want my damn _solo_. I want my chance to get the same amount of applause as people like you, Blaine, and even Finn. Don't forget, I was by your side when Puck and Karofsky – hell, even your own damn _boyfriend_ – were tossing slushies at us in the hallway. So when will it be my turn?"

"It will be your turn by the time it's _your_ senior year," Rachel explained, "but right now, this is _my_ senior year. I have to make the best of it since it's my last year, and I have to be eligible to get into NYADA." She took a pause to glance at Tina's still-angry face, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Your time will come, Tina. Just not now."

By the time their confrontation was complete, Rachel turned around to head back into the choir room. Tina was still standing there, steam coming out of her ears. She didn't want to wait. Both Tina and Rachel made it into the glee club at the same year, but Rachel ends up sucking up every solo there is. And even when next year comes, Blaine Anderson will end up taking everything away as if he's been there longer than everyone else has.

_I don't care if either one of them won their glee clubs many trophies and stuff in competitions_, Tina thought in the back of her mind. _Neither one of them is going to dominate me anymore than they already have._

* * *

Glee club rehearsals were pretty much done with a while after the Tina-versus-Rachel debacle ended. Tina wanted to go home and rest on her soft, gigantic comforter; but she had settled herself into the school library with a blue and pink spiral journal on one of the library sofas. She was busy writing down her feelings on a few of the pages, and drawing red and black mad faces around the page.

_**Journal Entry – 11/20/12**_

_Rachel Berry is NOT glee. EVERYONE is glee. What is it that people don't understand about that? It's about being a part of a club that you belong in. I don't feel like I belong here; everyone keeps pushing me to the side like I don't matter. God, tell me why they do this to me when Rachel's being the selfish one. I need an answer._

"Hey there, Tina." The Asian girl heard a familiar voice from behind her, which almost made her jump. She whirled around to find Sam Evans standing there, watching her. What was he doing here, and what did he want?

"What are you doing here? How did you find me?" Tina asked, her eyes staying on Sam's as the tall, muscular blonde took the seat right next to her.

Sam took off the backpack that was hanging on his shoulder, literally throwing it to the ground and allowing the books to make a loud thud. Even the librarian from about thirty steps away could hear the annoying sound. "I didn't really come here to necessarily _find_ you," Sam explained. "I have kind of an assignment due in two days for Ancient History, and I'm having a bit of some trouble."

Tina nodded slowly and returned back to writing in her journal. Her forehead and her ears were literally on fire with the memory of how annoyed she was with Mr. Schue, Rachel, and Mike all in the same day. She didn't want to yell at anyone, but no one barely even listens to her.

As she continued writing down her feelings, Sam took a moment from reading a History book he found on the shelves somewhere, and glanced at the pages in Tina's book from where he sat. Like other people in the choir room, he noticed Tina's change in behavior due to getting solos and being overshadowed by people. He never really thought about it before, but there are really a certain number of people who are exactly how Tina described them. It made Sam want to feel really bad.

Tina felt uncomfortable all of a sudden. She turned slightly to her right to find Sam peeking at the words written in her book. "Do you mind?" she asked, a bit stubbornly, which had Sam taken aback a little.

"Woah, calm down," the blonde responded, holding his hands up in defense, and Tina returned back to writing. "I know why you're mad, Tina. Pretty much everyone knows."

Sam noticed Tina running her hands through her long, flawless hair in frustration, and grew concerned about how she was feeling. She looked like she needed someone right now. Sam was trying to help, but Tina acted as if she didn't need it.

"Can we talk about something else that's not related to me letting loose in Bird Nose's face, and pissing off Mr. Schue and my boyfriend?" She sounded so hopeless from the tone of her voice. She turned to a new page in her book, and started drawing depressed, lonely faces with blue and purple glitter pens. Sam felt a little down to see Tina this way. She shouldn't be this way, but what was he supposed to do at this moment?

At that moment, he decided to lean closer to Tina and try another tactic to get her to explain what's going on. "Tell me something, Tina. What's your favorite song to listen to every day?"

Tina just rolled her eyes without Sam's notice. "What does that have anything to do with the current situation?"

Sam shrugged. "Well, you were the one that wanted to change the subject."

There was a pause in the conversation, and Tina went back to drawing in her book. She really didn't want to talk to anyone when she got angry like this. However, she felt as if she needed someone to be there for her. Mike was no help at all, and she couldn't talk with Mr. Schue about it. Artie would understand, but she left him behind in the choir room with the others.

Sam felt as if this wasn't going the way he wanted it to; so he decided to go further in the previous question he asked. "Besides, um…" he started, but almost didn't know how to continue, "I hardly get a chance to know you anyway. And maybe it'll cheer you up somehow."

"Nothing is going to cheer me up after that bullshit verbal fight from earlier," Tina replied. Sam was taken aback again by Tina's use of language. "Give up, Sam. You're no help at all."

In a way, that hurt hearing that from Tina's mouth; but he still wanted to help her, regardless. "I'm sure you have a tune in the back of your pocket that you like," Sam encouraged with a smirk on his face. Tina just scoffed in the other direction. "Trust me, I'll be help to you if you let me."

His words hit Tina somewhere on the inside – her chest, her skull, her brain? Didn't matter; either way, she knew she was being stubborn after the things being told to her earlier. _Maybe I should give Sam a chance_, Tina thought as she said there, motionless and staring into her journal.

_Now…what is my favorite song?_ Tina had so many to choose from. She could pull out something from Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, or even Michael Jackson. "I have too many favorite songs." That's all she could get out. She didn't have a specific one she wanted to point out.

"Come on, try to think about it a little more." Sam encouraged, and he waited for Tina to give a better answer.

It took about a minute or two, but once Tina knew a song, she turned towards Sam's direction. "Well…" she began, "lately, I've been listening to Celine Dion's _Because You Loved Me_." She saw the half-confused look on Sam's porcelain's face. "And…you don't know that song, do you?"

"Truthfully, no." They both shared a giggle with each other. Tina looked a little bit better.

Once they stopped giggling, Tina thought about her song suggestion. "I've been listening to it on repeat on my IPod a week before Sectionals," she continued. "I started listening to Celine Dion when Rachel suggested it during glee club rehearsals in my freshman year. That specific song, though, I've been hearing for the past few weeks."

Sam nodded as he appreciatively listened to the story of how Tina discovered Celine Dion and her love for some of her songs. Tina liked how Sam paid attention to her when she had something to say. It's like she's still writing in her journal, but having a real person to talk to. Both methods would've helped with her anger anyway; but when talking to Sam, she didn't feel so alone.

"But anyways," she continued, "I was listening to the song, and…I felt as if it describes the person that I want to be, you know? The context of the song is supposed to be related to relationships…at least, I _think_ it is. I'm not sure. However, when I was listening to that, I imagined myself singing it in the auditorium in front of my family and friends."

Sam nodded. "How did you feel when that happened?"

Tina shrugged, but then started going into her thought process. "Well…actually, it was…overwhelming. In a good way. It's like when you eat one of those sour cherry lollipops, and you get that sensation going on through your body."

Sam smirked at Tina's analogy as the thought of it went through his head. All of a sudden, though, Tina's mild smile turned sour, and she looked down again. "Whenever I think about that actually happening to me in real life…I sometimes think about how impossible it might be…" She trailed off a bit, thinking a bit deeper. "I joined the glee club for a reason. Everyone in that choir room had their reasons, really. Mine, specifically, was to follow into my idols' footsteps. They had inspirational back stories, and I thought I could teach everyone else a thing or two as well."

Sam nodded a couple of times as he continued to listen to her. "I just – I love to sing in front of people," Tina continued, rubbing her hands together a bit nervously. "When we performed _ABC_ at Sectionals, I finally thought I was considered moving on up towards what I wanted to do: keep singing. But…as usual, there's competition in the performing arts department –"

"And you feel rejected most of the time, right?" Sam interrupted, looking her directly in the eye.

"Yes!" Tina answered. "It's like my opinion in the glee club doesn't even matter, because at the end of the day, it's always Rachel taking center stage, while everyone else is a decoration. I _don't_ want to be a decoration; I want to be more." She paused and shook her head, disappointed. "But I feel that I'm not going to get it. Even when Rachel leaves, there's Blaine to worry about, too, who is basically a similar problem as Rachel is. It's like I'm looking at a Rachel 2.0 in front of my very eyes, and the girl hasn't even graduated yet!"

Sam held in his laugh after he heard Tina calling Blaine a Rachel 2.0, because he didn't want to fully admit it, but it sounded very true. As he turned back to Tina, she seemed quiet and feeling a sense of abandonment from the glee club. She loved the club, but it's like no one from New Directions seemed to care about her.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do." She finally said, staring down at her notebook, which was still open on the page with all of the sad faces. "There's nothing that I can say and do to make Mr. Schue, Rachel, or even Mike believe my side of the conflict. I just want to sing, but I never get a chance. When is it going to be my turn to sing again?"

Sam was started to feel a bit sad for Tina just by looking at her furrowed eyebrows and the corners of her mouth, which were curved down to show her depression on the inside. He assumed that Tina didn't even want to look at anyone, because she looked as if she was having the urge to cry. This was the most that she shared in a while with someone that wasn't Artie or Mike.

"I understand how you feel right now, Tina." Sam spoke up after a few moments of silence. Tina still didn't meet eyes with him. "I mean, I don't feel as neglected as you or some other people in the glee club might be, but I know what it feels like for someone to not notice you. Believe me, I see it in my little brother and sister."

"Your brother and sister?" Tina asked, tightly grabbing her hands and glancing back at Sam.

"Stevie and Stacey." Sam spoke up. "You remember them, right? I brought them with me to school during Rumors week."

Tina nodded, growing a bit of a smile at the memory of the little blonde kids. She was dancing with both of them onstage in the auditorium while New Directions were performing _Don't Stop_ by Fleetwood Mac. Stacey was in her arms about a couple of times, and Stevie was a really active child. "Yeah, I remember. I think your little brother liked to run around the stage a lot."

They both giggled at the thought of Stevie Evans. "Yeah, he's really energetic, I'll admit," Sam responded, combing a bit of his blonde hair back with his fingers. It got quiet between them again, and Sam went back to the point of the conversation.

"It's kind of hard to keep up with both of them when we're at home," Sam continued. "Before, we lived in a hotel with barely anything to keep us going. My mom and dad had to work for the food we needed, along with the lighting and electricity bills. That's why Stacey and Stevie hardly watch that much television."

Tina nodded with every word she was hearing, and started feeling bad for Sam's family. _It must be hard to live like that, especially in today's economy_, Tina thought as she listened to Sam's story.

"There are times when either mom, dad, or neither one of them would be home, like, around seven at night, and Stevie and Stacey would either complain about being hungry or finding something to entertain them. So when my parents weren't home, I would read them a book or tell them a story with props from around the house. One of them would get bored or something, and then ask if they could get some candy to eat. I don't know."

"But your parents barely had enough money to get any," Tina replied, disappointed.

Sam nodded. "Every time Stevie would ask me if mom and dad were getting a new house or something, I would always tell him and Stacey that our parents were trying their best to care for us, even when we don't notice it."

Tina nodded, and her eyes fell down to her feet again. At that action, Sam leaned a bit closer to the Asian girl. "Trust me, Tina. Stevie and Stacey feel as if no one cares about them, and I even think about how the government or the people running certain jobs don't care for my parents. But they're out there somewhere. They know we exist, and they're trying their best to help and support us."

It got silent between them for yet another time ever since Sam entered the choir room and met with an angry and lonely Tina Cohen-Chang. It took about a minute, but Tina ended up breaking the silence. "Sam…can I ask you a question?"

The blonde nodded again. "Shoot."

"Why do you specifically want to help me?" she asked in confusion, with a little bit of sadness on the inside. "I know you gave that example with you and your family, but…"

As she trailed off again, there was a two second silence before Sam spoke up again. "Because I care about you." Another pause. They looked at each other for a good few seconds, and Sam continued. "Well, not like _that_, because I know about your relationship with Mike and all –"

"He would kill me if he knew you liked me like that."

"I don't know why; we're buds and all, especially in the glee club," Sam responded. "Besides, he would know that I'm being supportive of you, I'm sure."

Tina took a second to think about it, and then shrugged. "I guess so."

Sam lifted his wrist to check the time on his watch. "Well, I gotta go," he told her, which let Tina down a bit. He started to get up from where he sat and grabbed his backpack. "I want to keep talking with you, though, Tina."

Tina turned towards the journal she had, and ripped out a small piece of paper from a big sheet that she hasn't used. Sam tried to see what she was writing, but her hand covered her writing a bit. Once she was done, Tina handed the paper to him. "Here's my number, and I'll pick up. If I'm not there, then I'm either asleep or I left my phone somewhere in my messy room."

Sam giggled at what she said, even though it sounded serious about her having a messy room. "I'm not sure if I'm gonna be here tomorrow afterschool, though," he added on. Tina looked up from her notebook, and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "I have a God Squad meeting to attend afterschool, so…"

A few seconds after he trailed off, Tina interrogated him, still confused. "The God Squad?"

* * *

**Author's Note**: Yes, this chapter had _loads_ of Samtina in it, and I feel really proud of what I've done with it. When I was writing this fan fic earlier, I had a Samtina confrontation, and it looked all crappy and stuff. But now, I have improved it, and I'm really impressed. The parts with Sam relating Tina's situation to his family hit me in the feels, especially. What did you guys think of this chapter?

Oh, and…the God Squad? That's right, this is implying that I might add Joe Hart into the fan fic sometime soon. You'll never know when until the next update comes… Well, I won't know when, either, honestly, but I will. No worries.

Thank you guys for reading, and stay tuned for the next installment!


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note**: I pretty much had an idea on what to do about this chapter moments after I published this (which was the time I went to bed, actually). I'm glad I was able to get it together to present to all of you.

So in this chapter, we're going to introduce Joe Hart, who happens to be another neglected character on _Glee_. This is kind of like the first scene with him in the "Heart" episode, but a bit different. Valentine's Day wouldn't be here yet since the fan fiction is taking place in November right now; but you'll see what I have in its place.

Okay then. Feel free to grab some pillows and popcorn before you read, because you might not be able to leave your computer (no, I kid). I hope you guys enjoy.

**Featured Pairings**: Samcedes (Sam/Mercedes), unrequited!Quoe (Quinn/Joe), Klaine (Kurt/Blaine), Hummelberry (Kurt/Rachel), minor!Finchel (Finn/Rachel), minor!Brittana (Brittany/Santana)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything related to _Glee_. All of the rights to the show go to Ryan Murphy and Co., and Twentieth Century Fox.

* * *

**Many Colors  
**Chapter Four

* * *

A brown gavel was pounded to begin the meeting. Other members of the God Squad – there were really only two people in there so far – were attentive towards their God Squad leader, Mercedes Jones. "I call the first meeting of the God Squad to order."

The former Troubletones member and the God Squad captain had reached down to her backpack and grabbed a folder with a few papers on the inside. As she was passing a paper to each member in the room – Quinn Fabray and what seemed to be a new student with dreadlocks – Sam busted the door open, nearly falling as he entered. The new student nearly jumped out of his skin, and Quinn couldn't help but giggle.

"I'm sorry I'm late," the blonde Titans football player huffed as he gathered himself from off the floor, and walking towards a chair beside Quinn.

Mercedes deadpanned at him as he took his seat, handing Quinn a paper to pass over to him. "You said that at the last meeting, and the couple of glee club meetings you were late to," she recalled. Quinn seemed to have a good memory of it, while the new teen just sat there, confused.

"Artie, Puck, and I had to run an errand for the last God Squad meeting," Sam explained in his defense, which Mercedes didn't seem to believe at all.

"I saw the arcade receipts fall from your locker, Sam." At that, Mercedes held up a few sheets of small, thin paper that she found in the hallway next to Sam's locker, which made the boy grit his teeth. "You can't play games with me. And you promised you'd commit to the God Squad after you told me about your so-called _rough past_."

"My dad got a job as a salesman, by the way," Sam added, taking off his heavy backpack and throwing it onto the floor.

"That wasn't what I was talking about." There was a pause in the conversation, and Mercedes' eyebrow inched up at him. Sam looked from his left to his right, feeling awkward and embarrassed. He did remember telling Mercedes that he had his stripper job to raise money, and he had sex with a couple of the women there. That happened about a month or so before Finn and Rachel had come to bring him back to New Directions, yet his parents still don't know about it.

After the awkward silence, Mercedes grabbed an agenda that she had passed out to Quinn, Sam, and the new kid, and started looking over it before addressing the rest of the group.

"Okay, guys. This is our second God Squad meeting," Mercedes began, "and we have a new member with us." She gestured to her left towards the boy with the dreadlocks. "Guys, I would like to welcome Joseph Hart into the God Squad. He is a sophomore here at McKinley."

Sam and Quinn turned into the direction of the brunette male across from them. He took a head bow towards his fellow God Squad members, carefully holding onto the guitar that had been sitting on his lap. "You guys can call me Joe, too, if that's okay."

Quinn smiled at him, folding her hands together in front of her. Sam gave him a critical nod. "So then, Tarantula Head, wanna recite the first five books of the Old Testament for me?"

"Sam!" He heard Mercedes call to him towards his right. Quinn just sat there, rolling her eyes playfully.

"What? He knows that I know his name."

"Then use it properly."

Joe looked back and forth at the two and bit his lip, trying to hold back a laugh he had been keeping in since Sam walked in the room. He looked straight ahead towards Quinn, who just shrugged at him and gave him a smile, trying not to laugh at what's going on as well.

Once they were done, Mercedes folded her hands in front of her, and Sam went back to interrogating the dreadlocked boy. "So…Joe. Know any quotes off the top of your head to recite for us?"

Joe smirked as he gave Sam a nod. "_We live by faith, not by sight._ Second Corinthians: chapter five, verse seven."

Sam almost bugged his eyes out at the realization of Joe's knowledge on the Bible. _Had he written this stuff on his hands or something? Was he waiting for me to question him about Bible quotes, or…what?_ Sam observed his arms and hands. He didn't look down or anything, so that couldn't have been it.

"Name the first five books of the Old Testament." Sam spoke up after the moment of silence.

Joe nearly laughed at Sam's statement. "I've known those ones since I was four," he explained with a bashful shrug. Quinn and Mercedes gave each other impressed looks, and then turned back to Joe.

Sam, however, almost didn't believe it. "Fine then. How about the first five of the _New_ Testament then?"

"Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts," Joe replied with yet another little smirk on his face, which had Sam almost narrowing his eyes.

Quinn shook her head at Joe, just as shocked at his knowledge as Sam was. "You've got to be kidding me," she replied slowly.

"Seriously," Sam agreed to Quinn's statement. "Like, where have you gone to school before you came to McKinley?"

"I didn't go to public school, actually." Joe sounded a bit down since he felt a little disappointed that he didn't meet these people earlier. "I was homeschooled basically all my life. The only best friend I had at the time was my own mom. So I decided to get out and experience the world."

Sam, Quinn, and Mercedes all nodded in his direction. They were never homeschooled before, but they knew how hard it was for someone to experience a new atmosphere. Many people in the glee club have done it, so they pretty much have the idea.

Joe had been looking down for the past few seconds, and then remembered something. "Oh, do you guys mind if I take off my shoes?" he asked, a bit sheepishly. "I'm sort of used to walking around barefoot." He slipped out of his brown sandals that he had worn to school today, and the other three members of the group observed his feet from where they sat.

"Wow," Quinn spoke up with interest. "It's like he's a teen Jesus." Joe grinned delightfully at her response.

Sam's eyebrow inched on his forehead. "Well then, welcome to the God Squad, Teen Jesus," he told the dreadlocked teen across from him.

Joe nodded in everyone's direction, and held onto his guitar for the others to see. "I brought my guitar as well," he explained, looking down at the neatly polished instrument. "Unfortunately, though, I only know Christian stuff. My dad only listens to talk radio, and we don't have a television in our home."

Sam was deep in thought after hearing a little more on Joe's family and his home life. _Dude, we have to be limited for money purposes, but damn_, Sam thought in the back of his mind.

"Not a thing to worry about, Joe," Mercedes spoke up, getting out of her seat and walking over to the white board with her sheet of paper. "If there's anything you would like to know or you have trouble with, the three of us are there when you're ready." Joe nodded to her, even though she didn't see.

She started writing the words _community service_ and _real life topic of the week_ on the board, and she faced everyone else when she was done. "Okay, so now that we've gotten to know our new member a little more, let's turn to the schedule I just passed out." Everyone else grabbed the papers in front of them and saw the sections Mercedes wrote out on the board. "Since Thanksgiving is coming up soon, I've decided this would be a perfect opportunity for our community service. Does anyone have any ideas for what we should do?"

Immediately, Quinn thought of a suggestion. "There's a homeless shelter three blocks away from my church," she explained. "Maybe we can feed the homeless, and give them a Thanksgiving performance."

"Praise!" Mercedes exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

"W-wait," Joe spoke up to Quinn. "What's the name of your church?"

"S.T. Erwin Church of God."

Joe's jaw dropped in excitement. "No way," he responded, just as shocked as Quinn and Sam were earlier, maybe even more. "I go to that church, too. My house is a block away from there."

"Really? That's awesome," Quinn replied, sharing a smile with Joe.

"Maybe I can even play my guitar there, too," Joe added, gripping onto the instrument in his hands. "I think I know a couple of songs at the top of my head right now."

Sam nodded in agreement, though he wasn't facing Joe or Quinn. _That's not the only thing that's on top of your head_, Sam wanted to say, but he knew he couldn't since Mercedes would consider that to be rude to their fellow God Squad member.

"That's an awesome way to start, you guys," Mercedes encouraged with a positive tone. "We can help feed the homeless and do our own performance as well. I can even gather up a few church choir members to help sing back-up for us."

Mercedes started writing down a couple of notes down on a white sheet of paper she had beside the rest of her belongings, and Joe twisted a couple of his dreadlocks a bit while glancing at Quinn every once in a while. He hadn't noticed it before, but he felt as if he was actually having a crush on Quinn, even though they just met. After all, she was very pretty, and she seemed like a really generous person.

Sam didn't focus on the sudden chemistry between Joe and Quinn; he stared at the guitar that had been sitting in his lap for the past few minutes. It was mentioned earlier that Joe knew how to play guitar, but only knew Christian songs. The real question was, what did his voice sound like?

"Joe, I gotta ask you something." Sam spoke up suddenly. The sophomore turned towards Sam and nodded. "Do you really know how to sing?"

The dreadlocked teen gripped onto his guitar. "Well, my mom has heard me sing in church, and I sometimes have a few tunes on my mind when I'm leisurely playing my guitar at home."

"Can we perhaps hear a bit of what you got?" Quinn asked, broadening her shoulders and folding her arms in front of her again.

With a nod of his head, Joe replied, "It would be an honor." He took the strap on the guitar, and placed it over his shoulder. He looked down at the wooden instrument and took a moment to think about the lyrics to a song he had in mind. Once he had his thoughts together, he started playing a tune for his fellow God Squad members.

_**Joe  
**__All of who You are reaches the darkest parts  
__Lifting the weight and erasing the scars that had a hold of me  
__Here I am bearing all, tearing down every wall  
__So amazed by Your grace and the way You're still holding me  
__Whoa whoa, whoa whoa_

As Joe continued playing his song and singing the lyrics to the Jeremy Camp number, his fellow God Squad members were amazed at Joe's voice and talent. Quinn had been smiling the whole time, Mercedes felt teary-eyed, and Sam had his eyes bugged out of his head for the past few seconds.

_**Joe  
**__My God, You are the unchanging love  
__My God, Your heart sends hope from above  
__The great Creator, beautiful Savior  
__I've been redeemed  
__There is life now from Your victory  
__You are my God  
__You are my God  
__You are my God  
__You are my God_

By the time Joe had finished singing, he received appreciative claps from Quinn and Mercedes, along with bright smiles filled with teeth. Sam, who was still stunned by Joe, had his jaw dropped, showing off his overly-full lips.

"Joe, that was amazing!" Mercedes exclaimed, still clapping. "When did you know that you could sing so well?"

Joe smirked bashfully. "When I was about ten years old, I started singing along with the choir at my church. Before then, I didn't think I would be good."

"Well, I think you're very talented and exceptional." That coming from Quinn's mouth made Joe feel proud, more than he had ever been. He never really got much compliments from people outside of his family since he had been homeschooled his whole life and didn't meet many people his age. To know that Quinn felt that was about him made him feel overwhelmed.

Noticing that Sam hadn't said anything, Mercedes turned her head towards him, her eyebrow inching up. "Sam? Thoughts?" Quinn and Joe turned their heads towards the blonde boy.

It took Sam about a few seconds, but he finally spoke. "Lemme ask you something, are you a pirate?" Once that was said, Joe furrowed his eyebrows together in utter confusion. "You've seemed to hide that talent for a long time, I'm sure." Joe suddenly understood him, and hid his face, covering the growing smile on it. Mercedes rolled her eyes playfully at that comment.

"Joe, do you know about our school's glee club?" Quinn suddenly spoke up, scratching her chin with the index finger on her left hand.

"Nope. Just the God Squad," Joe responded. He took a pause to scratch his neck and think. "I do notice a lot of girls with red outfits on. The skirts are sinfully revealing, though." Quinn's lips pressed together, remembering the last time she wore a Cheerios uniform. She was to perform at a cheerleading competition, but bailed out since she wanted to help New Directions win a football game.

Mercedes clapped her hands once with a sigh, and turned her body towards Joe. "Well, basically, the glee club is a singing group –"

"Full of the biggest losers in the whole school," Sam added, looking up at the ceiling carelessly, causing Quinn to nudge him in the arm for his ignorance.

"We perform a lot of numbers by a lot of famous people," Mercedes continued, "and we compete with other glee clubs in others schools in the nation. And if we win first place, we move up from Sectionals to Regionals, and then Nationals, where, if we win –"

"_When_ we win," Quinn added with a nod. Mercedes nodded in agreement.

"We will receive a Nationals trophy, and receive the title of the Best Show Choir in the Nation." Mercedes finished her explanation off, which had Joe nodding, impressed. He never knew about a glee club before, but he was interested in the thought of it. "So, what do you say? Would you like to join?"

Joe turned his head from Mercedes to Quinn, who gave him an encouraging smile, and then to Sam, who gave him a skeptical brow inch. His smile became even more prominent. "I would love to."

* * *

Kurt Hummel had almost fallen asleep at his locker, attempting to finish a project that's supposed to be finished by the next day. He had stayed up so late last night, assisting Rachel with mock auditions for NYADA. He loved the girl, but Kurt thought he had been yawning for at least five hours.

"Top of the afternoon, Officer Krupke." Kurt's eyes lazily drew up to his boyfriend, who had greeted him with a big, cheesy smile and the brightest eyes Kurt had ever seen. Only bringing up one of the characters of the classic musical, _West Side Story_, had Kurt feeling down about the fact that he actually lost the role to the former Dalton student.

"You fail to enthrall me with your cultural references today," Kurt replied, almost sarcastically and sleepily. "I, for one, am shocked."

As Kurt turned away from the gelled teenager to gaze at the packet in his lap, Blaine chuckled, bending down to his knees and grabbing Kurt's porcelain hand. "What's going on, Kurt? You're not yourself today. Has your dad been keeping you up?"

Kurt took a moment to sigh and shrug his shoulders, uncertain if he should further explain. "It's…more complex than that."

Blaine furrowed his eyebrows, concerned. "Oh…then what is it?"

"It's _Rachel_ that has been keeping me up."

Kurt looked his boyfriend in the eye with those puppy eyeballs, and Blaine chuckled once again, slapping the top of Kurt's hand. "I see," he responded, still laughing.

"Hey!" Kurt exclaimed, removing Blaine's hand from his, and rubbing it softly. "Do you know what it took to manicure this?" The out-and-proud gay male rubbed his hands some more before accepting the help from Blaine to get up off the floor.

"What have you and Rachel been up to?" the masculine male asked his senior boyfriend as they gathered his stuff and strolled down the hallway.

"Ugh, mock NYADA auditions," Kurt explained, placing his papers in his bag, arms linked with Blaine. "I think we've been practicing for about four or five straight hours. Previously, I had taken a nap on my dad's comforter, and I swear to God, I didn't want to get off. It's like you're on a cotton candy cloud from Katy Perry's music video."

Blaine bit his lip and nodded. He must've watched the video for _California Gurls_ multiple times, as he is one of her biggest fans. In fact, one of her most iconic songs, _Teenage Dream_, had Kurt literally falling in love with him ever since they met on the Dalton Academy campus. Blaine remembered thanking her by doing his own rendition of her song, _Thinking Of You_, and published it to his MySpace account.

"Well, I'm pretty confident in you acing your NYADA audition," Blaine responded, playing with his fingers as he and Kurt continued walking. "I, for one, have been watching you work your poor, tired ass off, which often is sad to see –"

"Trust me, you wouldn't know if you were trying to get accepted in one of the most prestigious schools in the state of New York."

"If I can transfer from Dalton to McKinley, and get accepted into New Directions, then I'm sure I could get into NYADA, if they would let me," Blaine replied. Kurt just rolled his eyes and kept his eyes on the floor, for they were getting droopy again from staying up all night. "Just trust me, Kurt. You were one of the Warblers' hard-working and stellar members, and you do obviously well here in McKinley. So what could go wrong?"

Immediately, they both took a halt as Kurt's eyes were suddenly alert at the sound of some far-away footsteps. Blaine, startled a bit, shook Kurt's shoulder. "Kurt, did something happen? Do you need a DayQuill, or a Xanax?"

"No. It's _her_." Kurt explained, his eyes still bugged out of his head. The footsteps got closer, and Kurt held tighter to Blaine's arm. "Warning for run-on sentences, loss of energy, and reluctance and fear of controllists."

"It's _controlling_, Kurt," the boys heard Rachel Berry's voice from behind them. "Controllist isn't a word. Have you been paying attention to some Finn Hudson advice lately?"

Rachel stood between Kurt and Blaine and unlinked their arms, walking arm-in-arm with the gay couple and leading them towards the choir room. Kurt faked a smile on his face at the short brunette. "Rachel, of course not," Kurt replied to her last statement, earning a nod from the New York-bound diva. Above her head, Kurt mouthed, "Yes, I have" to his boyfriend on the other side of her, which made Blaine silently giggle.

"Kurt, make sure that we have to stay in the choir room to work on runs and F-sharps," Rachel reminded him. Kurt nearly craned his head back in reluctance, which made Blaine stick out his lip at him.

"Haven't we been doing F-sharps last night?" Kurt moaned. "I swear, I forget whether I'm hearing high or low notes ringing through my ears."

"No, those were the power-hour warm-ups," Rachel replied. "The F-sharps come later." She could easily hear Kurt moan loudly, his eyes closing shut and him wishing that they never opened up again. At that action, Rachel tugged at the gay male's arm in encouragement. "Come on now, Kurt. You did an awesome job last night; I _know_ you can do it again."

_Not unless I fall back on my ass, and inflate it like a damn soufflé_, Kurt thought in the back of his mind.

Kurt, Blaine, and Rachel had finally made their way into the choir room. Once they did, they got a good eye view of some of the glee club members already in the room. However, not all of them showed up. Tina and Sam had been conversing off the side somewhere, starting off a discussion about the upcoming Titans football game before the season takes its break. Quinn and Mercedes had been standing beside the black piano, explaining to Joe every instrument and every activity that the glee club has, which had him more intrigued.

"I assume that we have a guest?" Rachel spoke up, making her way to the center of the choir room and getting everyone's attention. The short girl turned towards Joe, who smiled at her and gave her a nod, and placed her hands on her hips and gave him one of her polite, respectful smiles. "I'm sorry, mister, but this is a closed section of the premises, for we have rehearsals here now. You're welcome to look around another time." Joe looked a bit down after Rachel told him that.

Quinn stood up after leaning against the black piano. "Actually, he's not a guest," she told Rachel, taking a few steps towards the dreadlocked teen and placing a hand on his shoulder. "He's our newest member of the glee club."

Joe went from giving Quinn an admiring glance to giving Rachel a respectful grin, taking a bow before her. "It's nice to meet you," he spoke. "I'm Joe Hart, and I thought I could join New Directions."

There was a sudden pause in the conversation. Rachel had to literally blink her eyes a few times to get a clear understanding on what was going on, and Kurt and Blaine just gave Joe skeptical looks. Mercedes had a concerned look on her face, hoping Joe won't get as much criticism, and Sam and Tina observed the scene from the other side of the room.

"W-w-wait – when did this happen?" Rachel asked, all of a sudden, turning towards Quinn and Mercedes with a confused facial expression. "Was there a meet and greet that I wasn't aware of?" Joe stepped back a bit, nervous at Rachel's sudden change in behavior.

"Calm down, Berry," Mercedes spoke up, nearly rolling her eyes. "He told us that he could sing through the God Squad, and – lemme just say – he has a killer voice." Joe blushed a bit at Mercedes' comment.

Rachel's lips pressed together at the thought of how all of this came to be. She was just so confused; she didn't really know what was going on. "Okay then…" she finally spoke up to Quinn and Mercedes. "Fair enough, I suppose." Rachel took a pause to inhale a bit. "Mercedes, Quinn, may I have a word with you two for a moment? Joseph, feel free to commute while us ladies have a talk."

The girls took a few steps towards the band members' instruments, and Joe took his guitar over towards the right side of the piano where Kurt and Blaine had been standing. Kurt, suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable, darted from where he stood to where Rachel and Quinn were. He almost got away with it before Rachel directed him to the audience seats. Disappointed, Kurt sat down and watched the girls in front of him, and Blaine willingly joined him, leaving Joe to stand in the middle by himself.

"How are we gonna go through with this?" Rachel whispered to the girls, nearly gritting her teeth at them. "He is an inexperienced singer and performer, let alone an inexperienced _student_. Regionals is coming up, and we need to be the best."

"But Joe could be one of the best ones we have," Mercedes explained. "Hell, he could give some of the others a run for their money."

"He's been singing since he was ten," Quinn explained. "If that's not experience, then I don't know what is."

"New Directions could have been at a loss at Sectionals this year," Rachel explained to them. "With us running out of members – you and me included, Mercedes –" The God Squad's leader shrugged in response. " – and only barely beating the other teams by an inch –"

"Unfortunately." Mercedes moaned, remembering the Troubletones' loss.

"He is definitely _not_ ready," Rachel continued, "and he won't be until he's gotten at least two years of mentoring on his vocal range and choreography. Until then, this isn't going to work out."

Even if he was about ten steps away from the girls, and wasn't supposed to overhear everything they're saying, Joe felt a bit upset on the inside. He didn't get much criticism growing up as a child. No one told him that the real world would be competitive as how people like Mercedes and Rachel described it. Judging from the three-way huddle conversation, it looked as if Rachel didn't want him to be there, either, which made him feel a bit ashamed.

Tina and Sam had observed everything from the other entrance into the choir room, and felt a bit disappointed for Joe to be in this situation. He was only a newbie in McKinley High School, and he wanted to fit in with everyone else. Was that too much to ask, especially in Rachel's case?

Feeling especially bad about the issue, understanding how cruel Rachel can be half of the time, Tina made her way from Sam all the way to the other side of the piano where Joe had been standing.

"Don't worry about her much, Joe," Tina spoke to him. Sam made his way over as well, leaning against the big, shiny, black instrument. "She doesn't know what she's talking about. Besides, I think you'll be a great addition into the glee club." Tina and Joe gave each other a smile as Tina rubbed the boy's back, her fingers able to get the texture of his long, flowing dreadlocks.

More footsteps were being heard as Tina and Joe were getting into their conversation. Brittany and Santana had come in, with Brittany's arm around Santana and her hand on her hip, followed by Sugar, who entered the choir room with a valiant stride. Artie and Rory also entered through the door, both trying to beat each other to a seat in the audience chairs beside Sugar. Finn and Puck made it into the room, with Finn giving Rachel a kiss on the cheek that had Mercedes rolling her eyes in disgust. Mike walked in and noticed Tina talking with the new kid, giving her a shameful look before taking his seat.

Once everyone was in the room, Mr. Schue had entered through his office. "Alright everyone, take a seat."

Quinn, Mercedes, Rachel, Finn, Sam, and Tina had walked away from their conversations to find a seat. Before Joe could go anywhere, Mr. Schue had stopped him and asked him to stand before the rest of the group. "Guys, we have a new student here at McKinley who wants to join New Directions with us. So let's give a big, warm welcome to Joe Hart."

Everyone grinned at him and started to applaud, making Joe blush a bit more. "Righteous," he replied before the glee club, making a few people like Brittany and Sugar giggle.

Tina took a look to her right, and noticed the look on Rachel's face. She didn't seem as amused with glee's new member. _Well, someone's not the most welcoming person in the world_, Tina thought, turning away from her and watching Joe take a seat between Sam and Quinn.

Over in the third row beside her girlfriend, Santana had her arms folded in front of her chest, watching Joe in somewhat disgust. From the looks of it, she didn't like glee's new member, either.

* * *

**Author's Note**: So, what did you all think? I hope you liked it. Did that Santana part in the end sound random to any of you guys? Well, yeah, I kinda was. I plan on having a "Pot o' Gold" and "Mash Off" 2.0 in terms of what Santana does when a newbie enters New Directions and stuff. Only difference: Brittany, or any crushes on Brittany, aren't included.

Alrighty then! The next chapter will come soon, and I'm really proud of where this story is going. Can't wait for the next update. See you, guys!

* * *

**Featured Songs**:  
"My God" by Jeremy Camp. Sung by Joe Hart


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note**: Okay, so now we're on the next chapter of _Many Colors_, and I'm actually surprised that I came up with a way to continue onto this point. I almost confused myself on how to keep going; but as usual, I ended up finding a way. In this chapter, I start to introduce season four newbie, Kitty Wilde. You basically see her as she is in the "Thanksgiving" episode when she's all fangirly with Quinn Fabray.

So now that we're on the fifth chapter, let's all relax and enjoy the installment (well, not me, but you know what I mean). Okay, happy reading!

**Featured Pairings**: Tike (Tina/Mike), flirtatious!Samcedes (Sam/Mercedes), unrequited!Quoe (Quinn/Joe), Brittana (Brittany/Santana)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything related to _Glee_. All of the rights to the show go to Ryan Murphy and Co., and Twentieth Century Fox.

* * *

**Many Colors  
**Chapter Five

* * *

Lunch came by quicker than Tina and Artie had expected today. Even fourth period classes weren't as boring as they usually were. Miss Winchester had to take an off day because she kept thinking she saw doves flying around her wherever she went, and she had to see a therapist and an eye doctor. Regardless, neither Tina nor Artie had to worry about her for the rest of the period, especially since the substitute basically read a copy of a romance novel, _The Marriage Bargain_ by Jennifer Probst, for practically the entire day.

"You able to get a good sleep in last period?" Tina teased, watching Artie wipe his face clear of the saliva that had stuck to it. Every time the two had fourth period, one of them caught themselves sleeping inside since Miss Winchester bored everyone so much, and the substitutes never really did anything.

"The choir students from three doors down couldn't wake me up," Artie freely joined in on their little joke, making Tina laugh.

As the two friends made their way into the cafeteria, they made weave turns towards the glee club's table, where people like Rachel, Kurt, Sam, Quinn, Mercedes, and Mike were seated. Rachel had been stressing wardrobe ideas to Kurt, who nearly fell asleep in his food from listening to her; Sam had pitched some of his best impressions and crazy jokes to Mercedes, who kept giggling and blushing in response; and Quinn had been texting someone on her phone.

While Artie sat at the other side of the table where Rachel, Quinn, and Mercedes were, Tina placed her tray in between her boyfriend and Sam Evans.

Once she took her seat, Tina looked from her left to her right. Everyone at that table seemed to be having their own separate conversations, and Mike was the only one other than Tina that wasn't saying anything. She would try to converse with her boyfriend, but he still seemed irritated by the way she yelled at him and Rachel during glee club rehearsals. Rachel was one of the last few people Tina would talk to again, and Kurt can't seem to end a conversation with her. Mercedes and Sam were flirtatious at the moment, and Tina didn't want to interrupt. And Quinn…well, she was being Quinn.

Tina finally decided to settle with her lunch, which happened to be some smelly spaghetti with some greens, garlic bread, a dark red apple with a dent in it, and a bag of some baked, cheesy potato chips. Now Tina didn't seem as hungry as she was earlier.

Mike seemed to be giving Tina the silent treatment, for he had dug into the ham sandwich he got from home and only saw Tina from the corner of his eyes. Tina understood how ashamed Mike was of being around her since all she complained about was people like Rachel and Blaine getting more solos than everyone else. However, he could at least accept that it was true. Tina still won't understand how Blaine got as much as Rachel when he just got here a few months ago.

"Are you still not talking to me?" Tina managed to ask. However, she didn't receive an answer, for he just continued chewing on his lunch. This made Tina a bit irritated on the inside. _And you're one to talk on how I don't say anything during the make-out sessions we've had._ Tina wanted to say that in his face, but it was too early for her to start an argument.

Finally, she was having enough. She was sick of hearing him chew annoyingly with his take-from-home food. Sometimes, Tina wished that he could understand her as much as Sam did the other day. At the same time, though, what she did was a bit out of line (though it was still true to her).

"Okay, fine…" Tina spoke up. Mike pretended not to hear her. No one else could, for they were too busy conversing with each other. Thank God of that, too, because Tina was tired of the bullshit. "I'm sorry." Tina finally said, reluctantly and quietly.

Mike, eyebrow inched up on his forehead, looked around the table at people talking, and started to address them. "Guys, did you hear that?" he asked, which made everyone else perplexed. "Was that a rat?"

Artie rolled his eyes. "No, but Miss Winchester's aura is taking up space over here," he teased.

Kurt, Sam, and even Quinn started to giggle at Artie's joke. Mercedes, disappointed in how Sam just acted, kicked him from under the table, a sore spot coming on Sam's leg. Tina, while she appreciated Artie's clever joke about their boring-ass English teacher, was irritated at Mike at how he just behaved.

With a reluctant sigh, Tina spoke up to him again. "I said I was sorry," Tina repeated. Looking at Mike the entire time made her want to throw a rock at his face.

"I still hear that…" Mike trailed off. "God, what is that sound –"

"I said that I was fucking sorry, Mike!" Tina nearly yelled. Everyone at the table, along with a couple of people at other tables, heard her shout and use such language that she hardly used before.

Once it got quiet, and closely back to normal around the glee club's table area, Tina folded her arms in front of her chest and looked down at her food.

"Oh, so you're sorry, Tina?" Mike interrogated with a fake tone, and Tina nodded in response. "Sorry about what, making a fool of yourself in front of the glee club?"

"You forced me to almost make a fool of myself three seconds ago," Tina argued. "And my side of the glee club debate is true, and you know it."

"Regardless of whether it's true or not, I still feel ashamed that you actually had the decency to call out people like that in the club, and then make Mr. Schue mad." Tina didn't respond this time. That may have been true (she still thought her side in the main argument between her and Rachel was right, despite what anyone else said).

Rolling her eyes, Tina just sighed. "Fine then. If it'll make you feel better –"

"Tina."

The Asian girl knew Mike was being serious; so she sighed yet another time and tried again. "I'm sorry. Really, this time."

Mike finally grew a genuine smile across his face. He turned to Tina and reached his arm out to rub her right shoulder. "Thank you." Tina smiled half-heartedly, but then rolled her eyes once Mike looked away. _I'm not changing my mind, though_, she thought in the back of her mind.

Tina opened her bag of baked chips, though she wasn't really hungry anymore knowing that the lunch lady didn't know what actual good food was. Before placing a chip in her mouth, she had noticed Joe walk over with a tray of food – he didn't have much on his plate – and sat at the end of the table beside Sam and facing Quinn. "Hey Sam and Quinn," he spoke up, and he received a friendly hello from both blondes.

Santana and Brittany had walked into the lunch room with their Cheerios bags and a bottle of water – or Sue's Super Master Cleanse, whichever it was. They hadn't made it to the table yet, and no one from New Directions spotted them. However, both girls noticed Joe sitting beside Sam.

"Check out the new girl, huh, Santana?" Brittany whispered, nudging into Santana's arm. Santana just looked ahead and deadpanned. "She's got a nice voice for someone who has been stuck in his house his whole life." Brittany took a pause. "I heard that he doesn't shave his armpits, though."

Santana just sighed. She loved Brittany with all her heart, but she needed to understand genders a bit more. _And what kind of girl has a manly voice and big hands like that?_ Santana thought. She took a pause in her thought process and remembered something. _Oh yeah. Man-Hands Berry. Quinn taught us that in sophomore year._

"Brittany, he's obviously a boy." Santana groaned.

The clueless Cheerio looked ahead, confused as usual. "Boys don't have that much hair…do they?"

Santana didn't answer. She didn't have much time to explain to Brittany that Joe, in fact, had a penis, and wouldn't know anything of the sweet lady kisses that the two Cheerios would have often.

Wait – how would Brittany know what private part Joe had anyway?

Santana knew how. She had an idea so brilliant; it made her grin inwardly and almost prominent. "Come on." She linked arms with Brittany, and they both made their way over to the table, making their presence known. "Fabray, 'Cedes, everyone else." Santana greeted carelessly to everyone.

"Santana." Artie spoke from the other end of the table. "Has Snix made herself less relevant today?"

"No, but she'll be seeing you in your dreams as she rolls you down the steepest ramp in the world," Santana responded, adding her signature, fake smirk towards Artie's direction. The paraplegic looked away in horror at the memory of having to go up that thing in the winter times, especially when there's a lot of ice on it.

Ignoring Artie, the Latina faced Joe, who had been sitting in front of him eating a salad. "Hello there, new kid. Finding your way around yet?"

After swallowing some of the lettuce in his mouth, Joe looked ahead at the brunette and nodded with a smile. "I'm managing."

Santana's smile suddenly grew, which looked a bit creepy in Joe's perspective. "You bumpin' butts with an Apple-Bottom-jeans girl yet?"

"Santana?" Quinn suddenly spoke up, utterly confused. Joe matched his confused facial expression with Quinn's, slowly returning back to his food.

"What?" Santana replied, turning towards Quinn. "They literally ask every new kid this. Why is it any more unusual with me?"

Kurt cocked an eyebrow on his forehead. "She kinda has a point." He went back to eating his shrimp salad with a fancy dressing that no one could identify yet, along with some fancy pasta and a bread roll. Tina could only look in Kurt's direction and wonder, who the hell was packing his food for him?

The Latina Cheerio went back to her escalating conversation with Joe. "Anyways, have you ever got a taste of some lip and tongue yet?" Joe furrowed his eyebrows, wondering how he can get out of the conversation. "I want to know every detail, from looking at her with those puppy-dog eyes, to reaching your dog tongue straight down her esophagus."

Kurt nearly choked on his pasta that almost went down his throat, and Rachel couldn't help but giggle at Kurt's response. Quinn, Mercedes, Sam, Tina, and Mike couldn't really do anything but turn their heads slowly towards the conniving Cheerio.

"Um…like, _kissing_?" Joe asked nervously. Santana turned to Brittany, rolling her eyes at Joe's response. The dreadlocked boy didn't want to feel left out in the conversation, and he had a good idea on what Santana meant, although still confused; so he cleared his throat. "I never really kissed anyone before."

Santana slammed her hand on the table, using the other hand to rub sweat off her forehead that wasn't even there. "Oh, come on. There wasn't even _one_ point in your life where you were sitting in red lights in the dark and touching her whole body?"

"Santana, just stop." Mercedes spoke up. "Joe never had sexual relations with a girl, as said. So just drop it."

Kurt just looked from his left to his right in an awkward manner, holding onto a cup of cranberry juice that he got from the vending machine – which just so happens to be the only cafeteria food he got. "Can we talk about anything else?" he asked nervously before taking a sip.

Before Santana got a chance to say anything else, everyone at the table heard fast footsteps approach their table. An unknown Cheerio made their presence known, making a squeaky sound by causing friction with her white cheerleading shoes and the floor as she stopped running, and literally fangirled before Quinn Fabray. Quinn herself couldn't feel any more flattered.

"Oh, my God!" the cheerleader exclaimed, her jaw dropped and her hands in front of her mouth. "Quinn Fabray, it's you! Like, Cheerios royalty!" Quinn wasn't on the Cheerios anymore, unfortunately; but she was glad people actually acknowledged that she was a cheerleader before this point in her high school life.

"Well, Quinn," Rachel spoke up, impressed. "You may not have the leotard anymore, but I must acknowledge the magnificent understanding of everyone's memory of you being on top of the pyramid."

The unknown Cheerio turned her head towards Rachel, crossing her arms in front of her. "Well, duh. How can you _not_ remember? She was homecoming lady and princess, and won the Cheerios to Nationals in her freshman year with a quad-flip." After rolling her eyes, the blonde girl lost her attention towards Rachel, who just shook her head carelessly.

Quinn couldn't help but giggle, which made Joe smirk from where he sat. Santana couldn't help but press her lips at the blushing newbie. "Well, I wouldn't say a _quad_-flip," Quinn replied, "but –"

Before Quinn could finish her reply, she noticed the girl nearly jumping in place and making her face hurt by grinning so much. "Oh, my God. I can't believe I'm actually here to see you!" The blonde cheerleader couldn't help herself, but to give Quinn a tight, loving hug. Quinn hugged back, though she could feel the girl's tight arms squeezing against her bra strap, which felt uncomfortable.

Santana and Brittany eyed the fangirl-y Cheerio from where they sat. "You see that, Britt?" Santana nearly sighed. "Kitty Wilde. Freshman on the Cheerios. It's like you, me, and Quinn had a really wanky commune together, and left her somewhere on the island of forgotten children."

Brittany couldn't help but smile sweetly at the sight of the two blondes hugging it out in front of her and Santana. "Do you think one day, we'll have a real one of those?" she asked, her hand touching Santana's shoulder.

The brunette Cheerio turned towards the tall dancer and smiled. "Of course." With a smirk, she leaned forward and kissed Brittany on the lips. After about five seconds of what felt like a sensation between the two in public, they released each other and gave them a longing look.

However, neither girl noticed the dreadlocked boy look ahead in shock. Santana's plan seemed to have worked on him after all. Or did it?

"Oh, hey, Spider Head. Didn't notice you there."

Joe couldn't believe what he saw before his eyes – no really, he couldn't. He actually saw two females – yes, two _females_ – share a kiss with each other. _They…they are…_ Joe couldn't even get the whole thought out. He never met a lesbian person in his life, let alone a same-sex pairing. _So this is what mom and dad warned me about, huh?_ Joe thought in the back of his mind.

"I…I, uh –"

Now that the young cheerleader, identified as Kitty Wilde, left towards another table, Quinn was now looking in Joe's direction, concerned about Joe's nervous state. Mercedes and Tina were as well, for they were looking back and forth between Santana and Joe.

Taking a big gulp, Joe looked at Santana with the nervous puppy-dog eyes she told her about. "I mean…I – you guys are –"

"Gay?" Santana said it for him, and he nodded nervously in response. Santana gave him a shameless shrug. "Nothing wrong with saying it." She took a pause and narrowed her eyes. "Wait, what was all that supposed to mean anyway?"

Tina looked ahead towards Mercedes, who seemed to turn away and continue to eat her food. Tina really wished she had something different to eat instead of this nasty spaghetti so she could ignore the conversation.

Joe looked from his left to his right. Sam had given him this perplexed look, Quinn had been biting her bottom lip the whole time, and Brittany was studying Santana's hand as if it were some type of artifact. "No, no," Joe responded nervous, facing Santana again. "It wasn't like – I didn't –"

"Oh, I see." Santana nodded slowly and folded her hands together in front of her, making Brittany lean against her hand in boredom. "You haven't been bumpin' butts with an Eve; it was with a _Steve_…" Joe had his eyes bugged out of his head. "Don't act like you don't know. I've got you on my gaydar, Teen Jesus."

Brittany, puzzled, turned towards Santana's direction. "Jesus was gay?" she asked randomly.

"No, I'm not gay," Joe protested with his hands up.

"Not even a bit?" Santana asked, her face scrunched up at him. "Not even Anderson with his slick hairdo, and his strong arms, and his bubble butt –"

"Santana!" she heard Kurt exclaim from the other side of the table, almost spitting out his shrimp salad. The brunette Cheerio couldn't help but smirk at Kurt's response.

"Cut it out, Santana," Mercedes spoke up again. "Joe isn't comfortable with the way you're acting around him. Just give up."

Wanting to end the conversation, Artie leaned forward with his arm up and called from down the table. "I got a deck, if anyone wants to play spades." Too bad for Artie that his suggestion didn't work on anybody.

"From the way you said it, Mercedes," Santana replied, completely ignoring Artie, "it seems as if we have some homophobe at the table." Everyone suddenly went silent, eyeing Santana in shock. However, Santana showed no shame in what she said. She just turned towards Joe again with her eyebrow inched on her forehead. "Got anything to confess, Joe?"

It was silent again, and all eyes were stuck on Joe, whose legs were shaking under the table. Not even the touch of his hands could get the feeling to go away. He didn't want to ruin anything Brittany and Santana had together; but at the same time, his parents taught him what was right and wrong in terms of relationships.

He bit his lip, eyeing the girl across from him, and shook his head. "No," he told her, unfortunately.

It was still quiet, but Santana felt like the battle with her new _enemy_ of some sorts wasn't over. She sat up and took out some Life Saver gummies from her pocket. "Very well then," she replied. She didn't even know how to continue the conversation her damn self. She was just too tired.

It got suddenly awkward at the table. People like Mike, Rachel, Mercedes, and Kurt continued to eat, with Kurt looking a bit annoyed. Quinn and Tina seemed to be the only ones concerned about what she said towards Joe. And Brittany and Sam just didn't know what to do or how to react.

Joe, however, couldn't take it anymore. He just gathered his tray and messenger bag, and quickly walked away from the table. Tina knew how bad Joe felt, and was disappointed in how Santana behaved. Santana was actually lucky that Tina couldn't slap her.

As the awkward silence continued, Artie wanted to keep breaking it every time. "Anyone watch Jacob Ben Israel's edited blog on the internet last week?"

Somehow, people like Rachel, Quinn, Mercedes, and Brittany – well, all girls, basically – started ranting and raving before Artie's very eyes. Tina, although loved Artie as a best friend, didn't understand his point in randomly saying that. It looked as if no one even bothered to find Joe and see if he was okay. _Guess I'll be the one to do it_, she thought.

Taking her tray with her, Tina stood up from her seat and made her way out of the gap between Sam and Mike. She wanted to ask Sam if he would come and assist, but he was already starting up a debate on whether the New Directions should make a stalker video for Jacob and post it on MySpace. How mature of him.

As Tina dumped her food away, she wandered the hallways to find the dreadlocked boy. It wasn't that hard; she saw the head of brunette hair heading around the corner towards where his locker was located.

"Joe!" she exclaimed, which made Joe jump nervously. "Sorry about that." Tina added once she got close enough to him. Unfortunately, Joe wouldn't allow her to get that close, for he took a step back until he was up against his locker. "Don't worry, I don't bite."

At that response, Joe couldn't help but giggle shyly in her direction. "I know…kinda…" he spoke up. "I actually thought you…and –"

"That Santana and I were best friends…like that?" Tina asked. Joe nodded. The Asian girl shook her head and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Santana's my friend and all – well, kind of – but I don't want people to feel uncomfortable or anything."

Joe suddenly had a melancholy look on his face. He can't believe what he got himself into. He had nothing to confess to Santana about the gay talk, which had Santana assuming that he was some type of homophobic type of person. Joe, truth be told, wasn't homophobic at all; his parents just taught him that girls should be with guys, and vice versa.

Tina caught Joe leaning against his locker, looking sad on the inside. "Are you okay, Joe?" she asked, concerned. "Is Santana stuck in your mind or something?"

Joe nodded, deep in thought about the whole table conversation she had with the bitchy Cheerio. "Is she going to continue to hate me or something after what I said?" he asked Tina, worried. He didn't come to McKinley for people to hate him; he just wanted to get along. Was that too much to ask?

Tina sighed and placed a hand on Joe's shoulder. "She's not going to. Trust me, people hold onto their anger towards stuff for a bit, but it dies down," Tina explained. "There's no need to worry about her anymore."

However, Tina was wrong.

Santana, still in the lunch room with the other New Directions members, was upset about having to deal with Joe like that in front of her friends. It felt so embarrassing. The fact that she actually thought that Joe was against gay people made her feel hurt about being a lesbian, especially since she was outed about a month or so ago. In a way, though, she knew that Joe would be that way since he's a devoted Christian.

She wanted revenge. She suddenly didn't like Joe as everyone else did – or as everyone _thought_ they did, in Santana's mind. Then she came up with something she thought she wouldn't do ever since she met him.

Without anyone watching, Santana pulled out her cell phone and started texting someone from underneath the table.

**From**: Santana Lopez (Nov. 23 12:05 p.m.)  
_Twitter update. Some homeless-looking dude, Joe Hart, is a total virgin._

**To**: Santana Lopez (Nov. 23 12:05 p.m.)  
_Don't call him homeless, San. You don't know his life._

**From**: Santana Lopez (Nov. 23 12:06 p.m.)  
_Maybe not, but I know that his fashion style looks like something from between slavery years and caveman years. Js._

Once she sent that message, Santana remembered the extra, obvious detail that she left out. She added it in a separate message.

**From**: Santana Lopez (Nov. 23 12:06 p.m.)  
_And they call him Teen Jesus. It's like the real Jesus took a portal or something. Like, what the fuck?_

Back in the hallway, Joe had been talking about the situation with Tina for the past few minutes. The dreadlocked boy still looked worried, especially since he was intimidated by Santana so much.

"I didn't mean to make her feel that way," Joe told Tina. "Really, I didn't. I wasn't even expecting everything to escalate like it did. I just…" Joe trailed off, looking down at his bare feet, sad. "I just want –"

He felt Tina's hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, who grew an assuring smile on her face. "We all know that you didn't mean it, Joe," Tina agreed, "and it's okay that you feel the way you feel. No one's going to change that for you." Joe looked at her, still unsure about what to do since he felt so much negativity within the past two days.

"And Santana is just messing around with you because you hardly know her like the rest of us do," Tina explained. "She's not going to ruin your life anymore than she could ruin her own. Trust me."

Tina had some strong, assuring words coming from her mind and her mouth, and Joe could almost believe that he could patch things up with Santana, give or take a few days or so. However, it wasn't going to be that easy.

Actually, from what was going on now, it wasn't going to be that way at all.

Santana, while Tina and Joe had been conversing in the hallway, had been on her phone for the past five to eight minutes with several other people in the school that she got along with, with the exception of her best friends in the Unholy Trinity trio. Her smile kept growing in an evil manner that no one at the table even noticed – not even Brittany, who just so happened to be sitting next to her.

**To**: Santana Lopez (Nov. 23 12:14 p.m.)  
_What if someone passes the messages onto Joe or something? Won't he start snitching or something?_

**From**: Santana Lopez (Nov. 23 12:14 p.m.)  
_Don't worry about a thing. He doesn't have anything – Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, a cell phone – hell, he probably doesn't know how to use the internet itself._

**To**: Santana Lopez (Nov. 23 12:15 p.m.)  
_What a lame ass._

**From**: Santana Lopez (Nov. 23 12:15 p.m.)  
_LOL. He's a hot topic going around now, I'll say that._

**To**: Santana Lopez (Nov. 23 12:15 p.m.)  
_One of the biggest losers in this school. Officially further down the popularity list from Jacob Ben Israel._

Santana just shook her head slowly, looking at the text before her. She had done it. She had ruined Joe's reputation.

* * *

**Author's Note**: As a Joe fan, I usually wouldn't be this cruel to him like that; but of course, since _Glee_ itself won't provide him with a storyline, then I have to do it myself. Plus, I thought they would continue with something between him and Santana in the "Heart" episode following the whole singing telegram thing. Unfortunately, nothing escalated from there, either. Oh, and also, this is kind of random, but when I was typing the reactions for Kurt Hummel when Santana was interrogating Joe, I was laughing my ass off the entire time. I usually don't critique my fan fictions in author's notes like this, but I thought I should point that out since…well, it was funny.

Well, that's enough for this chapter. I hope you all stay tuned for what happens next! I know I can encourage you to read more (can I?). Hope I'll see you all again soon when chapter six comes out!


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note**: Okay, so this is my next installment of the fan fiction, _Many Colors_. This update took longer than the last one, and I apologize for it. I guess I was trying to figure out what would happen next after this point. Well, I'm getting things together, at least. Oh, and I watched the Teen Choice Awards on Sunday, and…let me say, I was fangirling everywhere. I thought _Glee_ wasn't even going to win for Choice TV Comedy. Plus, Chord, Lea, and Blake won some awards; Lea gave her speech about Cory; _Pitch Perfect _and _Pretty Little Liars_ won some awards – oh, my God. It was awesome. And, of course, I give all my respect to Lea in this time of grief as well, because losing Cory Monteith was one of the worst things to happen in the year of 2013.

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I hereby present you chapter six of _Many Colors_. Once again, I apologize for any delays, and I hope you all enjoy it.

**Featured Pairings**: unrequited!Sugartie (Sugar/Artie), unrequited!Sugary (Sugar/Rory), Finchel (Finn/Rachel), flirtatious!Samcedes (Sam/Mercedes), Tike (Tina/Mike), unrequited!Samtina (Sam/Tina)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything related to _Glee_. All of the rights to the show go to Ryan Murphy and Co., and Twentieth Century Fox.

* * *

**Many Colors  
**Chapter Six

* * *

As usual, Sugar Motta caught herself checking any Twitter feeds on her IPhone almost every other hour to see if something popular comes up in the trends section. She set the trend settings to Local, and looked at the incoming trends that were happening right now. There seemed to be a lot going on today: _#PartyAtTiffanys_, _#ThanksgivingBreakCountdown_, _#BiggestLoser_ –

Sugar furrowed her eyes at the sight of that hashtag. _Did someone die on The Biggest Loser or something?_ The spoiler Motta's Pianos heiress questioned in the back of her mind. All she could think about were those poor obese people who were trying to lay off the burgers and fries, but could've possibly died of a sudden heart attack.

The strawberry blonde girl girl searched the whole trend thread for what was going on. The majority of the messages on there had mean comments directed towards New Directions newbie, Joe Hart. Sugar's eyes bugged open at the sight of posts she saw with his name of them (and she totally didn't ignore the ones regarding the actual TV show, insert sarcasm).

As she was standing by the lockers, eyeing the tweets she noticed on her phone, Artie rolled around the corner and noticed her. "Sugar!" he called, rolling down the hallway and stopping by her side.

"Oh, hey Artie," Sugar greeted before turning away at her phone again to find more hate messages via Twitter. "Can you believe what's going on in the Twitter-sphere right now?"

Artie semi-rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me; Jacob Ben Israel made his presence known."

There was a pause in the conversation, for Sugar didn't have the slightest clue on Jacob's possible existence. "Who is that? Is he an Israeli kid that I don't know about? Is that how he got the last name?" Artie shrugged, and followed the clueless girl down the hall. _Well, I guess you could say that._

"That poor little Christian guy has been the talk of the afternoon," Sugar explained to Artie as she was typing a message to someone, "and let me just say, things are not turning out pretty."

"W-wait, Joe Hart?" the paraplegic asked, wondering why he would get harassed over the internet in the first place.

"Eh. I don't really know the guy that much anyway." Sugar shrugged as she placed her phone back in her large, white purse with the gold accessory sewn onto it. "I gotta go to the mall afterschool to find an outfit for Thanksgiving dinner coming up with my parents and my aunt and uncle; and someone's coming over to do a paint job, and I was asked to help –"

Artie stopped before Sugar could continue speaking, and turned towards her. "You do realize that we have glee club rehearsals afterschool, right?"

Sugar shrugged yet again, as if she honestly didn't care. "I'm gonna be really busy at home with decorating and shopping. Besides, it's only Michael week. I don't really dig half of the music he's written. Most of them are nowhere near my voice range, and the dancing would just make it worse for me. Sorry, Aspergers."

"Sugar, he's won eighty-six Billboard Awards, and was awarded thirty one times by the Guinness Book of World Records."

"I don't know. I guess I just prefer my generation's music, I guess." The spoiled teen continued walking, with Artie rolling by her side.

"Well, I know you show no interest in Michael week – though that's a damn shame on you, but whatever –" Artie couldn't believe that he actually said that fast enough, and Sugar didn't react with yelling in his face or something. "I could sing you one of his songs, if you want me to. I know every album of his on the top of my head, front cover to back."

Sugar just sighed almost hopelessly, and turned to the brunette. "Artie, I think your voice is totes awesome, and can surpass any other Eminem or Jay-Z out there in the world," she replied. Somehow, Artie felt overwhelmed in a good way that Sugar said that about him. The only other person in the glee club that would compliment his voice like that would be Tina, unless Finn decides one day that he'd say something to lift the paraplegic's spirits up. "Unfortunately, I just don't show much interest."

Artie cocked an eyebrow in her direction. "In me?" He had an idea on what Sugar meant, but he wanted to be sure.

There was another pause in the conversation, for Sugar's mouth had gaped at Artie's question. She was almost uncertain on how to respond. "W…what are you talking about?"

Truth be told, Artie almost didn't know why he said that, either. "Oh…I mean – well, I thought –"

The strawberry blonde giggled at him. "Wow, you're so funny when you're nervous." Artie was taken aback a bit by the awkward compliment he received. "What made you think that I wasn't interested in you? Hell, I'd rather watch you than the awkward Frankenteen sing to Jew Berry any day."

Artie sighed in relief on the inside, knowing that Sugar at least cared. However, the conversation was cut short as Sugar turned the corner towards the cafeteria. Artie didn't really know what this feeling was. He felt his chest heaving through his thick, brown sweater vest, and a trickle of sweat came down from his forehead to his right temple.

_No way_, he thought as he looked ahead. _Do I have a crush on Sugar?_ It seemed like it. He wasn't sure. The last time he was naturally nervous to talk to another girl was when he was dating Tina – or, wait, maybe Becky? He wasn't sure. Still, he could almost recognize this.

Meanwhile, as Artie had been sitting alone in the hallway by himself, Sugar had been walking down the hall for the past few seconds until she ran into another glee club member, Rory Flanagan. Her arm got a bit sore, and her mouth gaped at the rudeness she witnessed. "Do you have any type of manners?"

Rory nearly stuttered, trying to settle Sugar down and apologize. "I – I'm so sorry, Sugar. I have days where it feels as if I have two left feet. Please forgive me."

The spoiled girl giggled, looking down at the floor so Rory wouldn't see her blushing. "Rory, it's fine," she replied, looking back up at his brown eyes and his full baby face. "Just as long as you don't have any food or drinks anywhere in your hands, or I'll finish you like I did to the girl who said that Justin Timberlake's music has gotten shady."

The Irish exchange student's eyebrows had furrowed for a moment in confusion. _Who is this Justin Timberlake she speaks of?_

Once he was out of his thought process, the Motta's piano heiress had walked away from him towards the lunch line. He bit his lip a bit and then turned away. He thought about having a longer conversation with Sugar, but he thought that Sugar was still a bit frustrated about the whole _bumping into each other_ situation. Rory decided to give her some space.

However, his raging hormones weren't allowing him to get much oxygen. His heart was beating really fast, and he had a tingly feeling somewhere. _I think I like Sugar Motta…_

* * *

After school, New Directions were to meet in the auditorium to practice their Michael numbers that they planned to do. The Troubletones had already practiced their mash-up the previous day, and now Finn and Rachel were to rehearse their duet.

_**Finn  
**__Each time the wind blows  
__I hear your voice so  
__I call your name…  
__Whispers at morning  
__Our love is dawning  
__Heaven's glad you came…_

_You know how I feel  
__This thing can't go wrong  
__I'm so proud to say  
__I love you  
__Your love's got me high  
__I long to get by  
__This time is forever  
__Love is the answer_

Tina had been standing on one side of the stage with Quinn, Sam, Mike, Blaine, and Brittany. Quinn and Brittany were engaged into a small conversation Blaine had started, Sam was texting someone on his phone – Tina assumed that it was Mercedes, as he was as red as a tomato – and Mike was stretching out his arms and legs. Tina didn't understand why, though; it's not like he got a big dance-heavy number like the Troubletones do.

Tina's eyes went from Mike to the other side of the stage where Puck, Kurt, Santana, Rory, and Mercedes had been standing. Rory and Kurt had been swaying and watching Finn and Rachel practice their duet onstage. Kurt felt a bit awkward, though, as Rory was doing it, and Santana just gave him a dirty look. Puck had been texting someone on his phone – it was unknown who it was, really, but Tina could care less. Mercedes had been texting, too, and she had a sweet smile on her face, looking up and across the stage towards Sam. It was obvious that they were in love.

The only people that didn't show up in the auditorium for rehearsals were Joe and Sugar, two of the glee club's newest members. Where they had gone and what had they been doing, Tina will never know.

_**Rachel  
**__I hear your voice now  
__You are my choice  
__Now the love you bring  
__Heaven's in my heart  
__At your call  
__I hear harps,  
__And angels sing_

Tina observed the scene in front of her onstage between Finn and Rachel. They had paced around the stage a bit, looking each other in the eyes as the spotlight shone on them. She literally saw this every time in the choir room, so it wasn't much of a surprise that the growing chemistry between them was there.

_**Rachel  
**__You know how I feel  
__This thing can't go wrong  
__I can't live my life  
__Without you_

_**Finn  
**__I just can't hold on_

_**Rachel  
**__I feel we belong_

_**Finn  
**__My life ain't worth living  
__If I can't be with you_

It was about time to get to the chorus of the song, and people like Santana, Brittany, Mike, Blaine, and Kurt had maneuvered from their spots offstage towards their positions onstage behind Finn and Rachel. Tina was supposed to enter at this part as well, but she was too busy eyeing her rival and her freakishly-tall boyfriend as they sung their hearts out for the chorus.

_**Finn and Rachel  
**__I just can't stop loving you  
__I just can't stop loving you  
__And if I stop… then tell me just what  
__Will I do  
_'_Cause I just can't stop  
__Loving you_

Behind Finn and Rachel, as they were grabbing hands and twirling around like ballerinas in a musical jewelry box, Brittany and Mike had paired up to dance as well. Then Santana and Kurt paired up. However, Blaine was the only one standing there by himself, wondering where Tina had gone and if she wanted to dance with him or not.

Standing in front of the stage and shaking his head, ashamed, Mr. Schue clapped his hands together to gather the musicians' attention. "Cut, cut!" he called. The music stopped playing, and everyone dancing onstage had taken a pause as well. "Blaine, where is your partner?"

Nervous, Blaine started looking around. "Tina?" However, the Asian girl was too reluctant to follow orders.

"Tina, get out here!" Mr. Schue called, a bit stern. Tina hated when Mr. Schue got mad, although it happened once or twice before this week. She still didn't want to dance with Blaine, but she was asked to obey the glee club director.

Rolling her eyes and walking as fast as she could, Tina made her way towards the center of the stage between Finn and Rachel, and folded her arms.

"Can you please get to your position when your cue comes?" Mr. Schue asked, running his hand through his curly, brunette hair. "We've been doing this three or four times already."

Tina cocked an eyebrow and shrugged. "Oh, I'm sorry, Schuester. I was just giving Finchel the extra space they need for competition." Her tone sounded nowhere satisfied, and a bit sarcastic, and she gave Rachel and Finn the death glare. Finn, out of everyone on that stage, seemed the most confused, and Rachel had her hands on her hips, giving Tina a questioning glance.

Mr. Schue tried his hardest to not yell at one of his students, but he was getting tired of Tina's petty attempts to get attention for a solo part in a competition. He loved her just as much as everyone else; but Regionals were coming up soon.

"Tina, dear," Rachel spoke up, smoothing down her skirt for the umpteenth time this week, "as much as Finn and I enjoy your offer in giving us privacy, we need your assistance to make our performance pop for Regionals."

The junior girl had her hands on her hips, staring Rachel in the eyes. "You don't _need_ me," she responded, a bit louder. "Why don't you and Finn dance freely onstage by yourselves? The rest of us are not made to be your props."

"New Directions work as a team, Tina –"

"Only to make you look good!" Tina barked. Rachel tossed her flowing, brown hair to the side and rolled her eyes at the Asian girl, and Finn grabbed her so she wouldn't make a serious move that would hurt someone.

"Tina, I don't want to have to have this talk again with you," Mr. Schue spoke up again. "You can wait for your chance to sing. Right now, we have to –"

"Mr. Schue, you don't understand. I've been sitting in that choir room ever since freshman year – for _three_ damn years – okay? For that duration, I've been either crying my eyes out, or sitting beside Mike. And for what, just because I gave up my chance to sing a song from a damn musical, and handed it over to Rachel Berry? Okay, I didn't have much confidence as I had before, but I am ready for my solo. I am _ready_! However, no one else seems to realize it because they're all stuck watching the Finchel show!"

As Tina had finished ranting, Mr. Schue slammed his clipboard onto the stage angrily, and glanced up to find Tina's heated face. "Tina, I have had _enough_ of you trying to go back and forth with this!" he yelled, making people like Blaine, Kurt, and Brittany step back from where they originally stood.

There had been a twenty-second pause after Mr. Schue yelling to the tops of his lungs, and then Mr. Schue spoke up again. "You leave me no other choice." He was still looking at Tina, his eyebrows furrowed and steam coming out his ears. "You're not allowed to perform at Regionals. I'll have replacements for your choreography parts in the numbers. Do you understand?"

Tina wasn't sure whether she should cry or whether she should feel relieved. Mr. Schue just gave away Tina's chance to perform at Regionals this year. Tina should feel happy since she had to perform back-up for other people anyway. But at the same time, she felt tears coming from her eyes because this may be the last time she'll ever get to perform at Regionals. She wasn't graduating like the others just yet, but more people in the glee club may overshadow her (does Blaine ring a bell at all?) and she might not get to sing at all.

She balled her fists up by her side. She couldn't hit a teacher or a student – Rachel, in this case – because if she did, she would be sent to the principal. Life was just so unfair, though. Tina's anger and sadness had taken over her today, more so this whole week. Nothing was going her way at all.

"Well…that's fine. I don't even care," Tina finally spoke up, her voice just as loud as when she was ranting, but also shaky from her emotions getting the better of her. "I didn't want to perform at Regionals this year _anyway_!"

Unexpectedly, the Asian girl turned on her heel and stormed out of the auditorium, leaving everyone else silent. Some were in shock, and others were just irritated by Tina's change in behavior. Mike was one of those people, for he was standing by Brittany onstage, his hand covering his face.

Suddenly concerned about Tina, Sam and Blaine decided that it was in their best interest that they'd follow Tina and see if she was okay. Rachel personally thought that the issues with Tina were going out of hand, so she decided to follow Blaine and Sam to confront her.

Before she knew it, Tina had already gone to her locker and grabbed her stuff, preparing to call her mother to tell her that she was driving home. A tear had fallen down her face after she had left Mr. Schue and the rest of the New Directions members behind. They were the people she grew up with in high school for three good years; but at the same time, they had disappointed her as well.

Tina had grabbed everything – her backpack, a couple of textbooks so she could do her homework, and her gray purse with the bits of sequins on it – and slammed the locker door closed. Once it was locked, she turned down the hall and tried to make it to the exit, hoping that she won't look back and that people wouldn't see her breaking down.

Unfortunately, the latter was wrong.

"Tina!" That voice wasn't Rachel's, Mr. Schue's, or Mike's, for that matter. She recognized it, though.

The Asian girl stopped, gritting her teeth at the sound of her name and the fact that someone actually caught up with her. She was so upset; she couldn't turn around to get a confirmation on who it was. Luckily, she didn't have to, for there were porcelain hands grabbing her shoulders and trying to comfort her in the best possible ways there are.

"Tina, it's me," she heard Sam speak from behind her. This was just too damn embarrassing. Tina felt like crying some more, but Sam wouldn't let her. "Don't worry; I'm not here to cause trouble."

Tina deadpanned towards the exit. "As if there hasn't been enough trouble already," she replied coldly.

"Look…you're crying your eyes out, and you're pretty lonesome right now. I know you're angry, but…just let me do my best to help you."

Tina couldn't help but agree on how true that was. Here she stood, running away from the rest of the glee club after getting into an argument with Mr. Schue about solos at Regionals, although it seemed petty to some people in that room to an extent.

She turned slightly to her left to find Sam's pleading eyes, though her expressions on her face didn't budge one bit. "I believe you, Tina. Just let me help." Sam pleaded again, and Tina thought it was almost convincing.

That is, until she forgot about Sam's words once she heard Blaine and Rachel call her name from down the hall. Tina didn't really want to talk to either one of them, honestly.

"Tina, you've been acting really strange lately," Blaine first spoke once he caught up with the frustrated junior girl and the trout-mouthed Titan. "Just – I'm really getting concerned about –"

"You never cared about me one bit, Blaine Anderson." Blaine felt a bit hurt once Tina said those words. Sam felt like he should tell Rachel and Blaine to leave her be, because the more they tried to start a conversation, the more Tina wanted the throw her things to the floor and start a rampage.

Rachel combed her long, flowing locks with her perfectly-manicured hands, and folded her arms as she gave Tina a stern stare, which had Tina's ears heating up just a bit. "Now, Tina, you have been way out of hand these past few days," she explained. "I understand your attempts to be like me and win the rest of the glee club and win at Regionals, but now is not the time for that."

"I _never_ want to be like you!" Tina barked, and Sam barely held onto her once the girls came in contact. "And I'm not going to wait for my time to sing again. It's been far overdue, Rachel Berry, and you, of all people should know this."

Rachel cocked an eyebrow in the girl's direction. "I find that hard to believe. You're in denial, Tina, and you're jealous that I've been taking the spotlight all this time because by an unanimous agreement by the rest of the members of New Directions, I am one of the best voices we have. You're not a trained performer, Tina. I didn't want to have to say this, but it would take another few years for you to be perfection."

"I'll be damned if I have to undergo another few years in my life to be what you call _perfection_. No one is perfect, and I'm pretty sure that I can take everything you've got."

"Which is a shame since you're not taking away anything from me," Rachel added. "I have it all – my dreams, my talent, and my future. You may have the same, although not as recognized by the rest, but do you wanna know what has been taken from you?" The short brunette leaned in, leaving about two inches of space in between her and Tina. "Your opportunity and your dignity."

Tina frowned at her. By the look on Tina's face, it seemed very prominent that she wanted to slap Rachel in the face.

"And you wanna know who robbed you of that?" Rachel asked, her voice getting lower and fiercer. "Yourself."

At that moment, Tina couldn't take it anymore, and she did something she thought she'd never do in a million years.

_SLAP!_

The palm of Tina's right hand, along with her five fingers pressed together, had whacked Rachel in the cheek, and she went flying from standing position towards the cold floor. Blaine, shocked at Tina's action, knelt to the ground to help Rachel stand up.

Sam, shocked and worried at the same time, held Tina back by her arms and shoulders. "Sam, let go of me!" Tina protested, but Sam wouldn't do it.

Unfortunately, for Tina, Mr. Schue had caught the scene from a distance. "Hey!" he called angrily, running towards them and separating the girls. Still down the hall, other members of New Directions had witnessed what had gone down. Brittany even recorded it on her phone.

"Mr. Schue, I demand the authorities!" Rachel called out dramatically, pointing to the spot where Tina had slapped her. Blaine was still holding onto Rachel, and observing the angry glee club director before him.

"Oh, boo hoo. Get fucking real. I didn't shoot you with a pistol!" Tina called angrily to Rachel, with Sam still holding her.

"What the hell is going on here?" Everyone heard Finn rush over by Rachel's side to comfort her, though the girl was still pretty pissed.

"Dude, I don't think we should talk about this here," Sam told Finn while gripping harder onto Tina's arms.

"Tina, what is wrong with you?!" Mike called as he ran up beside her and Sam, with a furious look on his face.

"Enough!" everyone heard Mr. Schue call, and he grabbed Rachel and Tina's arms forcefully, dragging them away from Blaine and Sam respectively. None of the boys that were in the clutter had said anything afterwards (though Finn was still confused, and Mike felt like yelling at Tina). "Let's go. We're going to the principal's office. Both of you." With that, he stormed down the hall with both girls, arm in hand.

* * *

Mr. Schue, Rachel, and Tina had been in Principal Figgins' office for about ten or so minutes now. Sam decided to wait behind for Tina since his first attempts in trying to help her didn't work out the way they had been planned. Mercedes had been texting him from the auditorium, wondering where he had gone, and Sam told her everything. That she wanted to help Tina in her time of need, that she felt as if no one cared about her, that she was getting tired of waiting as patiently as she could.

As Sam was typing all of that, he sighed and ran his hands through his blonde hair. He hadn't been in this type of situation before, but it got deep very fast.

Meanwhile in the auditorium, all of the New Directions members had been conversing amongst themselves about the debacle between Tina and Rachel. Brittany played back some of the footage she got from the fight to Puck, Rory, and Artie. Quinn had been trying to talk to Mercedes, who was on her phone with Sam. Santana was nearly laughing her ass off after hearing Blaine talk about how Rachel fell down to the floor after Tina slapped her.

Mike, still furious, had been sitting in the back of the auditorium seats with his right hand holding up his head, and his eyebrows still furrowed at the defiant Tina Cohen-Chang. Finn had walked from the hallway, texting Rachel about what was going on, and took a seat beside the Asian dancer. "I know you're mad, bro," Finn spoke with as much sympathy as he could give.

It took about ten to fifteen seconds for Mike to respond, but he did it anyway. "Why did she have to put us through this? Why?" he asked, and Finn turned away, hoping he was giving Mike his space. "It's like she doesn't even care about anyone else." He didn't want to admit that about his girlfriend, but it was true.

Back outside of Figgins' office, Sam was sitting there on the bench with the phone in his hand, listening to Tina rant on the inside. "It's like she doesn't even care about anyone else!" she called, which made Sam wince a bit. He had never witnessed Tina this angry.

After a few minutes of going back and forth, it was quiet in the room. Sam started to get nervous because it seemed as if Tina had lost the battle that had just begun. It was true that Rachel was one of the best voices the glee club has had; but everyone was putting Tina down, and it was hurting her. Why didn't anyone care?

Or do they, is the better question?

Mr. Schue had walked out of the room quietly, not saying a word. The anger lines on his forehead were still showing, though, and he felt as if he needed to take a breath every five seconds. Following him was an angry yet triumphant Rachel Berry, who had her arms folded in front of her chest and her hair flying from off her head and back.

The last to come out of that room was Tina. She hadn't gone anywhere, and she had a blank expression on her face. Sam looked up at her with sympathetic eyes, biting his lip every once in a while. "Are you okay, Tina?" he managed to get out.

There was a pause before Tina could say anything. The next few words that came out of her mouth left Sam really stunned. "I don't think I should stay in New Directions."

* * *

**Author's Note**: Well, that was…pretty intense. Tina bitch-slapped Rachel so hard; her cheeks had concaved (yep, I just revised a _Pitch Perfect_ quote). Kinda upsetting what I had to do to Tina in this story, but it'll get better for her. Trust me. Oh, and that Sugar/Artie/Rory story is gonna develop itself more eventually, I'm sure. Reviews are appreciated, and I'll try to get the next installment in soon. However, school may start up in a few weeks, so it may be tight. I don't know. Just stay tuned, and you'll be able to read more later.

**Featured Songs**:  
"I Just Can't Stop Loving You" by Michael Jackson. Sung by Rachel and Finn


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note**: Well, at first, I kinda got stuck between a rock and a hard place trying to figure out what would happen next. It took a while, and I even hit a few bumps along the way, but I made it there. Oh, and also, I'm seeing a lot of spoilers coming in for S5 episodes. I, for one, am not pleased with what we got so far, with the exception of Tina having an episode named after her and singing three songs, and Becca being in the studio (I also like the Demi Lovato spoiler, but I'm not one-hundred percent jazzed about it). Maybe something good will come along later on.

Okay, now that I have gotten that out of my system, it's time to move along with this fan fiction, which I am proud of. Happy reading to you all!

**Featured Pairings**: Samtina (Sam/Tina), Cohart (Tina/Joe)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything related to _Glee_. All of the rights to the show go to Ryan Murphy and Co., and Twentieth Century Fox.

* * *

**Many Colors  
**Chapter Seven

* * *

"I…I don't believe it…" Sam got out after the next few seconds of silence. He looked up at Tina, who was slowly pacing in her spot, with a long facial expression. "Tina, I don't think you should go towards that direction –"

"Well, no one seems to care about me, obviously," Tina explained. "Mr. Schue just favors some people over other people, Rachel acts as if she founded this school, Blaine's just being a goodie two-shoes and pretending that nothing is wrong when there _is_ something wrong, and everyone else…well, they're just them."

Sam looked down slowly as Tina continued walking around a bit. The unfortunate part of it all was the fact that she never mentioned him at all. "Well, what about me? I care."

Tina stopped in front of the bench Sam had been sitting on, and looking down at his concerned facial features. "I guess you're right," the girl responded, and she smoothed down her clothes so she could take a seat beside him.

After a few seconds of silence and thinking, Sam sighed out loud, rubbing his hands together. "Honestly, though, Tina," he spoke, wondering the best way to get this out, "leaving the only friends that you have isn't the best option for you. After all, you said you wanted to stick out and do more, right?"

"Well, yes," Tina responded as she was combing through her dark brunette hair, which was a very dark black before she had gone through a change in her junior year. "I've always wanted to _do more_, as you said, but I can't stay in New Directions knowing that I won't get the chance. I've been waiting for years for this. I can't keep it up."

"You'll find your outlet, I'm sure," Sam encouraged, looking at her from his position, leaning on his hand and his elbow on his lap. "In order to do that, though, you've got to stick to the one thing you don't like doing to get to the one thing that you _want_ to do. Do you know what I mean?"

Tina moaned, literally. "Sam, I know what you're saying, and – ugh, I've been trying that for two years, turning three in about a few months or so. It's not that I don't love New Directions, because we are a family that respects each other." Tina took a pause and sighed, rubbing her forehead a bit. "I just don't feel like an actual family, though, especially since I feel so neglected between the rest of the group."

Sam understood what she meant. Even when he reflected back on the moments he had with New Directions, from the moment he first made it into the group and forward, he had noticed that they barely even gave Tina a chance to sing, with the exceptions of Valentine's week in the choir room, and the Night of Neglect fundraiser in the auditorium, both of which turned out terribly.

Tina just felt hopeless. She didn't know what to do. Maybe Sam was right, and the whole quitting glee club thing was taking away her chance to do what she wants. However, being a part of something special was supposed to make Tina special, as Rachel stated sometime before Tina's freshman year had ended and New Directions were heading off to Regionals. She didn't feel as special as she wanted to be.

"Thank you, Sam, for trying to help me and all," the Asian girl spoke up, her melancholy eyes looking down at Sam's, "but I think I just need some time by myself." Tina grabbed her textbooks and backpack, taking them out to her car so she could leave.

Sam just sat there on the bench, looking down at the floor and biting his bottom lip at the same time. Maybe there wasn't much to do to help Tina after all, as much as Sam wanted to assist with her. Maybe she really did need her time alone, and it wasn't up to Sam to change anything about that.

Without any other options in his mind, the blonde just grabbed his things and started walking back to the auditorium to join the rest of the glee club members.

* * *

Since Tina had skipped the next glee club rehearsal, she decided that it was best that she'd get some studying going on. Her English class was going to have a quiz soon, and Miss Winchester had come back to school. No one in that class knew why since she had a major problems with eyesight, ear problems, and the whole therapeutic issue with seeing white birds everywhere around her. She was a pretty weird woman to Tina, honestly.

Anyways, now that Tina didn't go to glee club rehearsals, she had more time to work on more important things, like studying for tests and attempting to find her own outlet, which was going to be a tough rode to go down. It was better than being sidelined every day in the choir room, though.

Once Tina had everything she needed, she strode down the hallway to find her English classroom. It was a pretty long walk from where she stood at her locker, but she got around easier since she had gotten used to the school for three years.

Tina had turned a corner, and continued walking up until she heard some sniffles coming from one of the classrooms surrounding her. _Is…is somebody crying?_ Tina wondered as her eyes bounced off every spot in sight before her. She turned to her right, but didn't see anyone. The sniffling was louder on her left; so she followed the sound to her left.

In one of the open classroom doors, Tina peeked her head in and looked around. The only person in the room was a male student sporting some long, brunette hair, and Tina could easily identify who it was.

"Joe?" the Asian girl spoke up, which made the dreadlocked boy nearly jump out of his skin. He took a firm grip of his right arm with his left hand nervously, his head dropping a bit in embarrassment. Tina didn't mean to interrupt him, but he looked alone at the moment, and was probably in need of help.

Tina walked further in the room up to the group of desks Joe had been sitting on. She placed her belongings on the floor by one of the chairs, and sat on top of the desks beside Joe. "Why are you in here?" Joe didn't answer, but Tina noticed the boy's wet face and his puffy eyes as she leaned forwards and took a good glimpse of his facial features. "Had you been crying?"

Joe just sniffled and stared at his feet in the brown sandals he was wearing. He was too shy to look Tina into her eyes.

"You can talk to me, you know," Tina explained, placing a hand on Joe's shoulder. "I can help you, if you want." Still, nothing. Another sniffle came from Joe as he looked down at the floor with the same melancholy facial expression. Tina started to grow concerned. "You don't want to talk about it?"

Joe understood wholeheartedly that Tina was trying to ask if he needed help, and she was pretty much the only source of help he could turn to at this point. They say, tell an adult when you're facing some difficult problems at school; but Joe couldn't trust any of the teachers enough to tell them what's been going on in his life. He had only been in McKinley for a few days, after all.

The dreadlocked boy was torn. He had suffered through so much trouble within these past twenty-four hours, and he needed someone to be there for him. However, he wasn't sure if he could trust anyone here. They could tell someone else what he had said, for all he knew.

Joe nervously looked up at Tina's concerned eyes, and started biting his bottom lip. Tina was a friend, though, and a fellow New Directions member. Plus, she was very nice, from what he's heard about her since he met her the other day when Rachel almost had a fit about having him join the glee club in the first place. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to confide in her.

"I'm not sure if I like it here in McKinley…" Joe spoke, his voice trailing off as he folded his hands in front of him. "I mean, the teachers are nice, lunch is decent and everything, my classes are equipped with a lot of things to help me…" Tina watched as the dreadlocked teen shook his head slowly. "But I don't know if I really like it here…"

"I'm not sure why, though," Tina spoke up, scooting a bit closer to Joe, which had him a bit more nervous. His head started to fall, disappointed, and Tina felt more sympathy than he did before. "Tell me, Joe. What happened?"

Teen Jesus was almost reluctant to say it, but he had no other choice. "I had been bullied at school today." Tina's jaw dropped slightly at the news. _Why would anyone want to bully Joe Hart?_ She wanted to know. "It's been that way since yesterday, and it hasn't stopped since." He took a five-second pause, having a bit of a realization on the cause of it all, and turned to Tina. "Is it because of my dreads?"

The Asian girl giggled under her breath at how cute he was being. "I'm sure it's not for that reason," she replied. "After all, there have been more outrageous hairdos than that, I'm sure." Joe was so relieved that Tina said that; he let out a less-stressful sigh. It left Tina to ponder over the starter's purpose. "But there should be no reason for _anyone_ to bully you. You've only been here for a couple of days."

"Maybe…" Joe responded, a bit disappointed and gripping his hands together.

"And it's not like you could be part of the freshman hunt or anything since you're a sophomore." Tina added with a shrug.

Joe suddenly got nervous, for he didn't know what a freshman hunt even was. "Freshman _hunt_? Like, they release you in the woods or in the park to run away from murderers or something?"

Tina rolled her eyes playfully. "No, that's most likely a stupid myth made up by some unintelligent senior." Although he was glad to know that, Joe still looked forward with a worried facial expression. Tina tried to get the best peek at Joe's worried eyes so she could at least have a heart-to-heart with him. "Do you know any of the things people were saying to you?"

Joe's eyes fell down back to his feet again as he tried to regain memory of the hurtful words that have been said to him within the past few hours. There were so many, and he didn't really remember much. Why could there be, though? He doesn't do much outside of walking to class and attempting to bring people into the God Squad and educate them about their Lord, yet they still pick on him.

It all didn't make the slightest sense at all.

"Well, I think I was heading to sixth period – that's what I can remember so far – " Tina nodded as Joe continued. "I was putting up flyers and stuff Mercedes gave me to help advertise for the God Squad, and these football jocks saw me, and – "

"Let me guess; they gave you crap?"

Joe nodded. "One of them called me _homeless_." Tina started biting her lip and picking at her smooth fingers. "I didn't see what was wrong with the way I looked. These were actually a couple of hand-me-downs I had gotten from my father," he continued, tugging at the green cardigan he had on. "And I like my hair, too." He rubbed his hand through a couple of dreadlocks that had been sitting in front of his face. "Each one of my dreads is named after a book in the Bible."

Tina approved of that statement. "You really _are_ a really devoted person, aren't you?" She admired Joe for liking the more positive things, rather than getting sucked into the negativity going around in society.

The sophomore nearly blushed at Tina's comment. "Well, God made us who we are today," he explained. "Without him…well, what are we?"

"Most likely sparkles of dust airborne in the sky like it blew from the Sahara Desert." Tina replied with a shrug, making Joe giggle a bit, and she couldn't help but join in with the laughter. Once the laughing ceased itself, Joe went back to looking down at his feet and twisting one of his dreads, wiping away some drying tears and sniffling once in a while.

At that moment, Tina remembered something that she was meaning to get an answer to. "You haven't shown up to the glee club rehearsals yesterday."

Joe's semi-smile turned upside down a bit. _Maybe I shouldn't have said that_, Tina realized once she saw the look on the dreadlocked teen's face. "I was too scared to go."

"Why? Because of the bullying?" Tina wondered, furrowing her eyes at him.

"That, too, but…" Joe trailed off to think about his next few words. "Well, it's just as bad, but I don't feel safe discussing who –"

Tina placed her hand back on Joe's back, making him turn around towards her. "You shouldn't feel uncomfortable around anyone, Joe. I want to be here for you as a friend. What's there to worry about?"

Joe was a little taken back by surprise at Tina considering him as a friend. He barely even talked to her, other than that one time when he was in the choir room, and Rachel was trying to accept the fact that Joe was even joining New Directions. Now, Tina wanted to actually get to know him and help solve some of his problems, which seemed like a blessing in disguise. "You…want to be there for _me_?"

"Of course," Tina replied with a sweet smile. "That's what the glee club is all about. We're supposed to be there for others when we fall, and we lift them back up to the surface."

Lately, Joe felt as if that was what Tina had been doing all along, since he was feeling like he had gotten stuck into some quick sand.

"So…if I told you who I was concerned about…you wouldn't tell anyone, right?" Joe sounded so worried. He was rubbing his hands tightly and tensing his shoulders a bit. Tina didn't want to see him like that, and she wouldn't betray him like that, either.

"I won't tell a soul." Tina meant that with a passion, and Joe couldn't feel any more relieved.

"Okay, um…" Joe trailed off as he was thinking of the best way to confess everything. "It's…well, it's about Santana –"

Tina nodded with much understanding. "Oh, I get it. This is going back to that awkward conversation we had at lunch time the other day, right?"

Joe nodded again. "It's just…well, my faith means everything to me, and I can't give that up because it was what I was born with. Without it, I basically don't have _anything_." Tina continued to listen, feeling sympathy for the poor teen. "But I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, especially Santana's. Now that I feel like I did, I feel so ashamed of myself that I can't even face anyone else in New Directions that were there with us. So that's why I ditched rehearsals yesterday…and today, too, unfortunately."

Tina sighed a bit. New Directions were getting closer to Regionals, and they didn't have enough members for them to qualify, especially with Tina and Joe ditching rehearsals, and whatever the hell Sugar Motta was up to.

"Do you think you could tell Santana everything you said so she would understand?" Tina suggested, followed by Teen Jesus giving her a puzzled shrug. "Besides, she was the one that started up the trouble anyways. Nothing was your fault."

"Are you sure it wasn't?" Joe asked.

"I'm totally sure." Joe took a moment to breathe, and Tina placed a welcoming hand back on his shoulder. "She's usually a hard-to-get kind of person. I'm sure if you try seeing through her and giving her the reasons you just gave me, then I think you'll be good to go."

After a few head nods from Joe, as he was feeling a little bit better about his situation, it had gotten quiet in the room again, and the dreadlocked teen was deep in thought about something. "Tina, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"How come you aren't in glee club rehearsal? Everyone else seems to be, but you're not."

Tina had the feeling in her gut somewhere that Joe might ask that. It wasn't that hard to explain it; but knowing that she got in trouble by Mr. Schue because of it hurt her on the inside. _Don't I get to have the right to rant about what I want, the way Rachel gets to rant about what she wants?_ Tina wondered in the back of her mind, making fists with her hands so she could contain herself. The Asian girl noticed Joe becoming a bit worried again once she saw her hands.

Letting out another sigh, Tina turned to Joe and placed her hand on his right leg. Joe didn't pay attention much since he was listening to her speak. "Well, I have a lot of work to do for another class, so I couldn't stay much anyway." Joe nodded, almost understanding – that is, until Tina continued. "And…I don't see my point in attending anyway since I quit the glee club."

Joe's eyebrows furrowed together in shock. "Tina, why did you quit? Aren't the other members worried about you?"

"Not as much, really." Tina responded with a shrug. "They have Rachel and Blaine anyways. They're the two star pupils to bring New Directions to their victory. I'm just a stage prop."

Joe suddenly gave her a look of confusion. "Wait, you're like a coat stand or something?"

Tina giggled again at Joe's reaction. "Kind of." Teen Jesus still looked a bit perplexed as to what Tina was talking about. "Let me explain," Tina continued. "In the theater, they have these people who are in the background for people with main or supporting roles. That's called an ensemble."

"Okay."

"In this case, I've been basically a background person for the past three years already, and I feel that they barely accept the fact that others in the group can do just as much as what Blaine and Rachel do," Tina continued. "I tried standing up for myself multiple times in the glee club, which turned into some outbursts between me, Rachel, and Mr. Schue –"

"Don't you feel ashamed for yelling at your teacher?" Joe asked, worrisome.

"To tell you the truth, I actually do," Tina answered, "but at the same time, I felt like I had to do it because no one really considers me to take a big role in something. I hate it just as much as you and everyone else does, but I couldn't take it anymore. I was sick of sitting; I needed to take a stand."

Joe nodded, understanding everything. He would never do something like that to his teachers or even his own _parents_, for that matter; but he was proud of Tina for trying to get what she deserved. He didn't understand much about glee clubs and competitions, though; but he knew they were important.

"So what did you do afterwards?" Joe asked, trying to get back to the topic of the conversation.

Tina pressed her lips together sheepishly. "Well, I kind of slapped Rachel in the face –"

"Ouch." Joe replied while making a scrunched-up face.

"Not really. I mean, I honestly don't know what she got so dramatic about." That made Joe smirk, with a snicker come from his mouth. "Rachel and I had to suffer through detention today, though, which was _not_ a part of my schedule, I might add –"

"But you hit another girl."

"Yeah, yeah," Tina replied, reluctantly, "and I have to suffer the consequences. Don't be my mom, dude, alright?"

"I'm just saying." Joe responded with a shrug and a smirk on his face.

Tina smiled at the now cheered-up Teen Jesus. It didn't take much time at all to cheer him up, really. He seemed like a happy-go-lucky teen who was willing to accept or experience anything, and Tina couldn't be more blessed to learn that about Joe.

"Tina," Joe suddenly spoke up.

"Yeah, Joe?" the Asian girl spoke up, willing to listen again.

"I know you quit glee club because everyone was being unfair to you and everything," Joe explained, "but what will you have without it? Don't you have any other clubs you could be a part of?"

Tina shrugged with much uncertainty. "I honestly don't know," she replied, unfortunate. "I mean, I could sign up for any club I wanted, but I wouldn't click with the people that accepted me as a family. The truth of the matter is, I love to sing. Singing is the one thing I feel like I'm made for. I mean, choir could be an option for me, but they don't sing much songs from the top 40s charts, or have any other type of repertoires in handy."

"McKinley doesn't have two glee clubs?" Joe asked, rubbing his left arm with his right hand.

"Nope. Just New Directions." Joe nodded and then glanced down at his almost-bare feet again, and Tina suddenly had an idea growing in her mind somewhere.

The New Directions were supposed to be a group where _everyone_ gets a chance to solo something and help win McKinley to victory. However, people like Tina, Joe, Artie, and even Sugar and Rory were so neglected that they barely got their shot. Maybe New Directions won't give them a try, but there just might be another group that could…

Once the idea had made itself prominent, Tina started growing a smile on her face with the realization that it might be able to play out without much fail – well, there may be a few flaws, but what much could really happen?

"Joe, you just gave me an idea." Teen Jesus' brow inched up on his forehead, optimistic of what Tina was thinking about.

"Really?" Joe asked, interested.

"Yes, and it's one of the best ones all day." Joe couldn't help but reveal a smile on his face that was too hard to hold in. He watched as Tina gathered her backpack and placed it on her back, while carrying a couple of books she had planned to take to tutoring today. "And I need you to help me, if that's okay."

"You want me to help?" the dreadlocked boy asked with a bit of enthusiasm in him somewhere.

"Yes," Tina encouraged, "and maybe by the time this works out, we won't have to deal with Santana's hurtful slams much longer." She winked back at him, showing a bit more positivity in her; however, Joe started to get a bit nervous about Santana again. "Don't worry, you'll see."

* * *

It didn't take much time for the duo to make it there, but Tina and Joe had arrived at the school library just in time. Once they were in the facility, Tina led the way towards some show choir books that had been sitting in the back of one of the rows. Joe had no idea what was going on, but followed and looked around with her.

"Do you know what we're looking for?" he asked, confused.

"Yes, and I'll explain a bit more when I find it." Tina kept dancing her fingers over the edges of some books she found on the second shelf from the top, keeping an eye out for some book titles so she would know the one book she needed. At that moment, her eyes fell upon a gray and black book with the title, _Show Choir Rule Book_ on the side. She pulled it down from its shelf, and made her way towards an empty table, where Joe followed alongside her.

"Show Choir Rule Book?" Joe interrogated as he read the cover of the book. Once she got her backpack off, Tina finally sat down beside Joe and flipped through the book to find what she needed. "There's a rule book involved in glee clubs, too?"

"Well, yeah. It's basically like playing sports, except we're not throwing or kicking anything, and no one gets injured," Tina replied. Joe sighed inwardly, thankful that he won't have to witness much violence (or, at least he hoped he won't).

Once Tina arrived at the page she was looking for, she nearly sighed in relief, and started reading aloud to Joe. "Write-in show choirs can be formed and allowed to compete under the signed permission of an elected official, an official sponsor, or school administrator."

Joe furrowed his eyebrows again in confusion. "So…you're saying that we need to ask Mr. Schue's permission?"

Tina's eyes bugged out of her head, and she immediately grabbed Joe's arm, concerned. "Joe, no! We can't tell Mr. Schuester anything about this."

"But don't we need to ask someone?" Joe asked. "And we don't have enough people for a glee club."

"That's the whole point." Tina explained. "This is supposed to be a surprise from members of New Directions. We'll ask the principal for our permission, but we can gather up more people ourselves."

Joe felt a little disheartened by Tina's plan. As much as he wanted to help, he didn't like keeping secrets from people. His mother had told him something about it being sneaky, and in a way, it was wrong. He felt Tina soften the tension in her hand, and started comforting Joe in a friendly manner. "I'm sure, Joe, that things will make sense once it actually happens. Trust me."

However, Joe still was a bit worried and unsure. "You sure we won't be caught or anything?"

"I'm one-hundred percent sure."

It took Joe a few seconds to think about it, but he made up his mind. "Okay, I'm in."

As Tina and Joe shared a hand shake and a friendly hug, Sam had observed the whole scene behind a set of shelves in front of them. He didn't know why this had happened or what was going to happen next, but he knew he had to find out soon.

* * *

The following day, somewhere around breakfast time, Tina had arrive to school a bit early, already full with a waffle, some fresh fruit, and a hash brown in her system. She had to get the letter to Principal Figgins written so she and Joe could carry out their plan for their write-in show choir. So far, she only wrote a couple of sentences, but she wasn't complete yet.

She was interrupted by a familiar face showing up at her locker. "Tina, hey," Sam spoke once he got close enough to her.

"Oh, hey Sam," Tina spoke, putting her notebook away and gazing up at the blonde football player. "What's up?"

"Listen…" Sam trailed off. He seemed a bit nervous to actually admit what he overheard the other day, but he had to bring it up. "I found about you and Joe, and your –"

Tina nearly panicked on the inside. "Did Joe tell you our plan?" she asked, shocked.

"No, no!" Sam tried to calm Tina down. "I overheard it when I was trying to find a book to study with for class." Tina sighed a bit. After all, Joe wouldn't tell on other people behind Tina's back. Even when the two discussed the _not telling Mr. Schuester_ thing, he didn't appreciate what he had to go through. "I just wanted to talk with you about it," Sam continued.

The blonde watched as Tina cocked an eyebrow in his direction, which made him think a couple of minutes before he even said anything. _This would cause conflict between us and New Directions, but it's worth a shot_, he thought. "I want in." And it definitely was worth a shot, because Tina couldn't help but grow a surprised smile on her face.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Well, this took a bit longer like the last one did. I kinda had a cold while typing this, but it was worth it. I got some good ideas from this, and I was so happy that this fan fiction is escalating to something more. I almost couldn't believe it. Okay, next time I'll have another chapter for you, and I hope you all appreciate it! Hugs and kisses!


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note**: Yo, yo, yo! Here I am, presenting you all with another chapter of _Many Colors_. We have gotten some good spoilers on the Cory Monteith tribute episode as I was working on this, and…well, I just can't wait to see that episode the most out of the three episodes we have so far. I just hope that it won't get bad reviews or comments or anything like that. We had these types of controversies with the "Shooting Star" episode from season 4, and they weren't looking so pretty. Besides, this is Cory Monteith we're talking about. What's bad about that guy anyway?

And with that, I hereby present to you chapter eight of _Many Colors_. Enjoy!

**Featured Pairings**: Samtina (Sam/Tina), unrequited!Tartie (Tina/Artie), Hummelberry (Kurt/Rachel), implied!Klaine (Kurt/Blaine), implied!Kurtcedes (Kurt/Mercedes), Sugartie (Sugar/Artie), Ecohart (Tina/Sam/Joe)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything related to _Glee_. All of the rights to the show go to Ryan Murphy and Co., and Twentieth Century Fox.

* * *

**Many Colors  
**Chapter Eight

* * *

"So what do you plan to do with this whole…_write-in show choir_ anyway?" the blonde teen asked the Asian beauty as the duo made it from Tina's locker all the way to the library about ten minutes before classes began. Tina already had breakfast, and Sam was engaged in Tina's idea.

Tina had an open notebook in her hands with a couple of things they needed once Principal Figgins approved of their ideas. So far, she had a good list going, aside from finding general members to join their group. There was a lot to prepare for, though. "Well, we're trying to form a group specifically who want to have their moment in the spotlight," she told Sam as they made it closer to the library.

Sam nodded in response, and allowed Tina to enter through the library door before him. "Okay, and how are you going to gather more members?"

Tina shrugged with a bit of certainty in her somewhere. "I know there are some members in New Directions that are willing to step in and help."

Before the two made it any further into the room, Sam had taken a step in front of her. "Wait, just take away members of New Directions? Isn't that stealing or cheating, for that matter?"

"Only the ones Rachel claims that she doesn't _need_. Just the neglected members," Tina explained. "We'll even ask around the school and see if people want to join. I mean, there's someone in this school dying to be a new Christina or Justin. They just need the motivation."

As the two made it to a table to take a seat, Sam rolled his eyes and pat Tina on the back for good luck. "Godspeed."

"What does that supposed to mean?"

"According to the rest of the school, the glee club is at the bottom of the food chain," Sam explained, "and you wanna gather up _neglected_ New Directions members? That's down in the basement, Tina."

"I know we'll find just enough members," Tina replied, determined and looking through the contents in her notebook. "If New Directions can do it, then our group can as well." Sam saw that Tina was excited with this idea, and she didn't want to ruin anything for her. However, it did seem like a difficult task to take on. This made Sam wonder if members of the AV club would even join.

"New Directions can't find out we're doing this, though," Tina added, "at least not yet. We still have to work out a few things."

"Like?" The curious blonde leaned towards Tina to read some of the things she wrote down. All he could see was some pretty cursive handwriting, along with a couple of drawings of hearts and stars written with different-colored glitter pens. He never pegged Tina as the artsy, creative type before, aside from singing and dancing in the glee club.

"Well, someone has to sponsor us, like an adult leader," Tina explained. "New Directions has Mr. Schue. Who should we have?"

That seemed like a pretty good point. Sam pondered over it for a bit while Tina continued writing in her notebook. "The band instructor?" he finally suggested, though he was a bit unsure about it as well.

Tina furrowed her eyes a bit at that thought. "Mr. Steinberg? Is he the guy that can yell as far as twenty miles away?" Sam suddenly got the realization of that suggestion as Tina did. Not him.

"Well, there was this man that tutors for the choir kids –"

"Sandy Ryerson? No thanks," Tina interrupted immediately. Just the thought of the new glee club being run by someone who was pretty hands on with his work – actually, hands on with his _students_ – was the most cringe-worthy idea since Finn's kissing booth to raise money for Regionals. "You don't know him as well as I do, Sam. He's the Quagmire of this whole school. I'm not gonna risk it."

Sam frowned at Tina's reason for not liking the old man, though was impressed at her use of the ever-so-popular _Family Guy_ reference. "Well, who else is there?"

"I'm not sure, honestly," Tina sighed. "We'll just have to keep our eyes open."

"And we don't even know if Principal Figgins has approved of the letter you just sent," Sam added. "We could be shot down or something."

The smirk growing on Tina's face seemed very obvious. "Let's not think about going down for the count just yet, Sam. I'm pretty sure Figgins understands what we're capable of." Sam sure didn't understand what he meant, but Tina was pretty confident in herself to know that the new glee club will be approved. Imagining the whole scene play out in the back of her head forced the smile on her face as she continued to write.

* * *

_Tina imagined Principal Figgins' days to be one of those happy-go-lucky ones. He did the usual: park his car in his personalized spot in the teachers and staff's parking lot, and strode from his vehicle to the door with a brown briefcase in his hands. You would think that someone like Principal Figgins would be like the rest of the teachers at school: lazy, tired, or just plain hating to see kids every day at their job. Nope, he was different from the rest, and not just because he was the principal of the whole school._

_The Indian-American citizen had made his way through the door, and walked gleefully through the corridors of the school, looking out for his office door. Before he got there, though, the lights had gone out in the area he stood in, leaving only light to stand out far down the hallway somewhere. Figgins didn't understand what was going on, but he had gotten a bit frightened._

_As if from some type of horror movie, like Halloween 2 or Texas Chainsaw, Figgins had made a ninety-degree turn, and spotted a dark figure standing there and eyeing him from almost thirty steps away – that is, if their eyes could be seen at all. All Figgins could see was a big, black cape over the figure's shoulders, and their black dress fit nicely over a pair of some black shoes with a bunch of buckles on them._

_What really freaked out Figgins the most was when the figure sped-walked towards him, the cape flying behind it while it still hooked perfectly to its collar, and their eyes were glowing a bright cherry red. And – wait, were those fangs on its mouth?_

_The McKinley principal panicked as it came closer to him. As if no one was aware of his utter phobia for the bat-resembling creature._

"_I am going to start a new glee club in order to make presences be known," the voice of Tina Cohen-Chang, or at least a vampire version of her, called out to the frightened man. "Accept my permission to let this proposal commence, or I shall make human soup with your eyeballs and four gallons of your precious blood!"_

_The Asian beauty hissed in the poor guy's face, and made her sudden disappearance with a swish of her cape over her shoulders. Figgins thought it was in his best interest to get on that right away before he would have to face the vampire girl for another time._

* * *

Sam and Tina had been talking about the new glee club almost all morning, with Tina even cluing in some ideas for Joe as well. Things weren't set in stone yet, but Tina had the feeling that everything was going to work out okay. All she needed were about nine more members to join, which was going to be a difficult task to take on.

Fourth period had rolled on by soon enough, and Miss Winchester had been teaching the class on how fictional character, Scarlett O'Hara from the ever-so-popular _Gone With the Wind_ had went on the March to Washington. As usual, no one understood her nor believed in any of the things she was saying. Hell, had she even _read_ the book?

Tina didn't care, though, as usual. Besides, she had been focused in on some text messages she had been sending and receiving from Sam about some more ideas on how to bring people in the group and some available sponsors. So far, all Sam suggested for a sponsor were Coach Beiste (sweet woman, but maybe not the perfect choice for an adult glee club leader), the new swim coach, Roz Washington (too loud and controlling of a person), and Carl Howell (hadn't even seen the man in months).

**From**: Sam Evans (Nov. 24 10:49 a.m.)  
_Cents Princeaple Figgins is the onlee won 2 now about our glee club, shuld he bee the spunsur?_

Tina pressed her lips together at Sam's obvious dyslexia showing off through text, hitting the keys with her thumbs as she replied to his message.

**To**: Sam Evans (Nov. 24 10:49 a.m.)  
_The better question is, does he even know anything about directing a glee club?_

**From**: Sam Evans (Nov. 24 10:50 a.m.)  
_Gud point._

Tina glanced from her phone underneath the table to her notebook sitting under her _Gone With the Wind_ copy, thinking of another topic to discuss with Sam about their glee club before Miss Winchester walked over to take away her phone – well, she was too busy…semi-teaching to even notice anyway. Before she could tell Sam anything, she received a text from someone outside of the conversation.

**From**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 24 10:50 a.m.)  
_T, what are you doing?_

Tina had just remembered that Artie was in the same class with her, and probably bored out of his mind while listening to their crazed English teacher. Tina had responded to Artie's message.

**To**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 24 10:51 a.m.)  
_Messaging Sam about something._

**From**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 24 10:51 a.m.)  
_What are you guys talking about?_

Tina loved Artie as a friend – more like _best_ friend. She wouldn't dare to keep secrets from him. However, Tina and Sam were rounding up more ideas so they'll be ready to set up their new glee club, and Tina wasn't supposed to tell anyone in New Directions about it.

However, Artie _is_ a neglected member of New Directions, and he would probably want nothing more than to get revenge at Schuester for not giving him an MJ solo. Before Tina could reply to him, though, she got another message from Sam.

**From**: Sam Evans (Nov. 24 10:52 a.m.)  
_Shuld we have Hollie Holliday?_

Tina's brow inched up, impressed. _I never really thought about her much before_, she thought in the back of her mind, typing on her phone to send back a response. She didn't even bother to notice the melancholy look on Artie's face as he observed the sight of the fellow junior, who probably wasn't interested in talking with her anyway.

"Okay, everyone," Miss Winchester spoke up lazily from the front of the class. "Everyone take out some paper, and write notes on…I think we're on…chapter five? Anyways…"

Tina rolled her eyes carelessly, returning back to looking at her cell phone screen. Artie had still kept her eyes on her, waiting to see if she was going to say something back. Luckily, Tina had sent Artie a quick message, though it wasn't one Artie had been expecting.

**To**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 24 10:54 a.m.)  
_I'll talk about it later, I promise. Maybe we can discuss it after the holidays. Pinkie swear._

Well, Artie was at least grateful that she said something, rather than just abandoning him. It was better than nothing.

* * *

The last glee club rehearsal before the Thanksgiving holidays had finally come along, and every New Directions member – yes, even Sugar decided to show up – was in the room, having conversations about how they lust over the thought of having big plates of turkey and mashed potatoes with gravy on it for their feast. Kurt and Rachel even got everyone else jazzed up for the occasion by singing their version of Promises Promises' _Turkey Lurkey Time_, which Puck and Santana thought was just a gay and almost too-cheerful performance.

Tina had been sitting in the third row on the side somewhere, writing down some more ideas and thoughts to think about when setting up the new glee club. So far, she and Sam agreed to have Holly Holliday be the adult sponsor, though they would have to ask her permission first. They didn't have a name for their group, more people to join their group, or even their set list ready for when their competition comes. There was still a lot to do.

The junior girl decided to take a small break from looking in her notebook, and allowed her eyes to wander around the room. Kurt and Rachel were still putting on their little impromptu holiday show for a few New Directions members. Brittany, Mercedes, Blaine, and Finn were dancing along a bit (though Finn's dancing looked awkward as hell), and Mercedes and Blaine even shimmied along with Kurt. Quinn and Santana were carrying on some conversation while checking their phones and reading a couple of magazines. Sugar was playing around a bit with Artie's hair while he sat there with a bored yet giggly facial expression, and Rory watched in jealousy. Sam had been shooting some ideas about the new glee club to Joe, while showing off some _Victoria's Secret_ catalogues along the way (that was so Sam), and Joe kind of looked on critically.

Tina couldn't help but notice that Mike was the only one not in the room, and she had no idea why. Of course, he was mad about Tina getting into a fight with Rachel the other day. Wait, was he holding a grudge about that? Oh yeah, Mike had a tendency to do that sometimes.

She was so in outer space about her Mike problems that she hadn't noticed Sam and Joe walk over and sit beside her. She was feeling a bit lonely at the moment, since everyone else's focus was on Hummelberry's little show they were putting on. "Be happy, Cohen-Chang," Sam spoke up. "We have a four-day weekend, and we get to eat all day on Thursday." Tina couldn't help but giggle, and somehow _agree_, to Sam's statement.

"You feeling blessed, Tina?" Joe asked with a bit of a smile, though he was a bit concerned, too. "You haven't been that excited since we came in here."

These guys were too generous to Tina. No seriously, it was starting to become a bit too much, even for the lonesome and determined Tina Cohen-Chang. She appreciated their company, though, being that she was a bit on the rocks with Mike, and she didn't have any other close friends besides Artie.

She gave both Joe and Sam a sweet, understanding smile. "I just have my mind set on something, that's all." Neither one of them would understand much about her and Mike's situation.

"What about?" the blonde asked, furrowing his eyes a bit. Before Tina could get answer out, Mr. Schuester had just walked in the room from his office, and directed everyone to their seats.

"Guys, I just wanted to applaud each and every one of you for your hard work at rehearsals for Regionals," Mr. Schue began, clapping his hands together. Everyone else beamed in excitement – well, everyone except for Tina, that is. "We've only been practicing for a couple of days, but I am impressed by the work you have all shown me."

It came unexpected even for herself, but Tina felt it had to be done so everyone would know. Her hand rose in the air, and Mr. Schue caught it in his vision. "Yes, Tina? Do you have something to add?"

"More like an announcement of my own." Tina had placed her things on the floor beside Joe's chair, and made her way from her seat towards the piano beside Mr. Schuester.

Brittany, who had her legs on top of Santana's lap, turned towards her Cheerio girlfriend with some realization showing in her face. "I knew it, Tina's pregnant."

"I am not pregnant," Tina called out, as if she had heard Brittany from miles away. Everyone else had confused looks on their faces as they turned heads from Tina to Brittany and back. "But I do have something to say, and I don't think there's another time that I can say it."

The girl looked around the room at most of the faces she was going to miss out on when she, along with Sam and Joe, carry out the preparations for their new glee club. And Tina noticed that everyone was silent, for once, to hear what she had to say. _Oh, now you wanna listen?_ Tina felt like rolling her eyes, but knew she couldn't. She took a deep breath and just let it out. "I am quitting New Directions."

A stir of murmurs and objections were going around in the room. People like Artie and Rory were even a bit disappointed, seeing that they won't see the Asian beauty much longer.

"Tina, why are you leaving?" Finn asked, a bit confused.

"You can't leave us, Tina," Blaine spoke from the corner somewhere beside Kurt.

"Who's going to do costumes?" Brittany asked, her eyes wandering around the room at her fellow members. Even the absent-minded bisexual Cheerio even cared about Tina in this difficult, though frustrating time.

"Well then, Tina," Mr. Schue spoke up, rather disappointed, "it's a shame you have to leave us."

Even through the trouble she and her glee club director had gone through, Tina was going to miss Mr. Schuester since he was the one that brought everyone in this choir room together. If he hadn't rounded them up and came up with the idea to revive New Directions, everyone in that room wouldn't be how they were now.

However, despite her love for most of the people in the choir room, Tina suddenly boiled a bit at the sound of Rachel's voice over everyone else's. "Mr. Schue, do you have the utmost idea on what this is?" she asked with her hands on her hips. "Tina only wants our sympathy because she feels it is unfair that Blaine and I are granted with special gifts enough to perform at Regionals –"

"Everyone is granted with something, Rachel," Tina protested.

"But you should at least admit that you're doing this because Mr. Schue granted _your_ opportunities to someone else." The female lead had crossed her arms in front of her chest as the silence commenced, waiting impatiently. "Well? Admit it."

"Is this true, Tina?" the vested man asked, sporting a concerned look (maybe even with a little bit of annoyance sprinkled in there).

Tina just had enough, for she had huffed out some breath and folded her arms impatiently, looking back and forth from Mr. Schue to her first and worst enemy. "You know what? I actually did. When you, Mr. Schue, kicked me out of Regionals, I felt upset, as Rachel did when she found out that she got suspended from Sectionals. And neither one of you took my talent seriously for the past few years anyway. So you wanna know what I'm going to do? Find me some more opportunities. New Directions isn't the only one, you know." Tina took a quick pause to observe the silent and shocked New Directions members before her, and placed her hands on her firm hips. "I believe my services are no longer needed. I rest my case."

The Asian girl felt as if a lot of weight had been lifted off her after giving that speech to everyone. Yeah, sure, she won't be able to perform with these guys anymore, namely the graduates; but she wanted everyone to understand what she was going through. Before Tina could leave the choir room, though, she heard Sam speak up from his seat. "I'm leaving, too."

Finn and Puck shot their heads from Tina's direction over to Sam's. "Dude, what gives?" Finn interrogated with his arms tossed in front of him.

"I'm with Tina on this one," Sam agreed as he took his things and made his way by the junior girl's side. Tina felt lucky at least to have Sam standing by her.

As if with some certain luck, Joe had grabbed his things to join Sam and Tina at the door. "I am, too." Everyone else in the room seemed confused as ever, while people like Rachel sported a shocked and disapproving facial expression.

"Mr. Schue, will you please do something about Tina?" the bossy brunette nearly yelled at her glee club director. "Thanks to her, we're losing more members because of this petty and uncouth debate we've had all this week!"

Tina folded her arms in front of her chest, her eyes alert and in Rachel's direction. "I'm pretty sure Mr. Schue can't do anything about me having an opinion or concern that he claims that is out of his control." Okay, maybe that sounded a bit harsh; Tina just wanted to leave. "I'm sorry you're upset, Rachel, but this is a wake-up call. There are other fishes in the sea. They matter, too."

Tina felt so accomplished. She actually stood up for what she believed in all this week, although it may have had some fails. The young Asian girl turned on her heel and made her way outside the hallway, with Sam and Joe following close behind. The New Directions members where left sitting there (in Rachel's case, _standing_ there), shocked and speechless. Tina may have left them in a bad place, but they'll live.

* * *

Now that Tina, Sam, and Joe were out of New Directions, they were left sitting out in the courtyard with nothing much else to do. And since it was November, the temperatures outside were very low, and the leaves blew in any which way when the wind blew carelessly. Luckily, the trio had something on their arms to prevent them from getting sick or anything. However, the weather was the last thing on all of their minds.

Tina had her notebook out, looking through the words she wrote on her paper, stumped. She felt like she was stuck in a fork in a road, with no directions on where to turn. Maybe leaving New Directions was kind of a bad idea.

"You know, in a way, this isn't much of a bad idea," Sam spoke up, playing some type of game on his phone, with Tina believing that he had read his mind or something. "I mean, we've lost New Directions, but we're making a direction or our own. We've got this new club, right?"

"We don't know what to do, though," Joe added, a bit concerned. He gripped onto his guitar with the rainbow strap on it. "There's only the three of us."

"And we're yet to getting permission from our new _sponsor_ to assist with us," Tina added, feeling the need to toss her notebook down the stairs that the three had sat on. She looked as if she wanted to give up and just apologize to New Directions and Mr. Schue about what she had said before exiting that choir room. She hated talking to people that way since she was usually a considerate person; but people didn't care for other people that much, despite the saying that everyone in New Directions is a family.

The dark-haired teen sighed for a moment and leaned her elbow onto a step that was almost at the level of her shoulder. "But if we're going to really do this, we need to be motivated and keep thinking about our options."

Sam and Joe nodded slowly in unison, though they were unsure about the outcomes of the situation they were in. While Tina kept glancing at her phone and her notebook, Sam was texting a couple of his football friends (or maybe Finn, since he was probably the only guy in New Directions thinking about him – or perhaps mad at him), and Joe looked down at his guitar and plucked a couple of strings at it, deep in thought.

For the next three to five minutes, it was quiet. No one had said anything, and they were trying to figure out how to gather members to join their group. It would be difficult to just gather members who weren't a part of New Directions, being that the whole school hated the glee club in the first place. Plus, Sam was right about not bringing new members in that were still in the old glee club. All it would do to New Directions is decrease the number of people they have, and it could be considered _stealing_, as Sam mentioned before.

Tina felt as if she was screwed. She wanted this to work, though. In order to calm herself down, she popped in some ear buds into her ears, and started playing one of her favorite songs at random.

_**Tina  
**__Boy meets girl  
__You were my dream, my world  
__But I was blind  
__You cheated on me from behind  
__So on my own  
__I feel so all alone  
__Now I know it's true  
__I'm still in love with you_

Sam and Joe had glanced up towards the girl before her, and took in the essence that was her singing voice. Neither one of them heard her sing that often in the glee club, but she sounded stunning. In Joe's thoughts, it was like an angel had fallen from heaven, but was actually in the form of a regular human being.

Immediately, Sam had ceased his game playing and went on the internet through his phone to find the lyrics of the song Tina was singing along to so he could show them to Joe, who had no idea on what the song originally was. Once the chorus came, Sam started to sing along.

_**Sam  
**__I need a miracle  
__I wanna be your boy  
__Give me a chance to see  
__That you are made for me  
__I need a miracle  
__Please let me be your boy  
__One day you'll see it can happen to me_

Tina hadn't noticed that the boys were listening to her, and grew a bit nervous. However, once Sam started to sing, her nerves died down a bit, and she even giggled at the sudden lyric change into the song.

Soon enough, Joe started to join in, strumming the guitar in his hands, and the boys cheered her up a bit more with their little duet.

_**Sam and Joe  
**__I need a miracle  
__I wanna be your boy  
__Give me a chance to see  
__That you are made for me  
__I need a miracle  
__Please let me be your boy_

_**Tina, Sam, and Joe  
**__One day you'll see it can happen to me  
__It can happen to me_

Once all three of them had stopped singing, a mixture of giggles and laughter could be heard. "You guys sound amazing," Tina smiled at the two boys, both of them smirking at her back.

"You sound amazing, too, Tina," Joe admitted bashfully.

"You know, guys," Sam spoke up, silencing the other two, "maybe we can actually pull this off. I mean, sure, it's gonna be hard, but we've faced harder problems in our lives, right?"

Tina was proud of herself for bringing Sam and Joe together. They were two of the nicest members – well, _former_ members – of New Directions (aside from people like Artie, who they unfortunately left behind in the choir room). Somehow, even though the three of them were very different in some type of way, they encouraged each other to push towards more positive things, and that's what Tina liked about being friends with the boys.

As if she were some type of soccer mom at a championship game, Tina extended her arm forward and let her hand out. "You in it to win it, guys?" she asked with much positivity in her, and Sam and Joe let their hands in the huddle as well. Once they came to an agreement, they embraced each other into a warm, three-way hug.

* * *

**Author's Note**: For all those who feel let down about the amount of attention Tina has been giving Artie, I apologize for that. I mean, they were friends since the beginning; why forget their friendship? It'll get better later on, though, since I may or may not add him to the group Tina's forming (hint, hint).

And OMG, the amount of Ecohart put into this chapter was complete gold. When I wrote this fan fiction the first time around, I originally wanted to use the song that I put in here, and I'm proud of myself for how it turned out. And I'm especially surprised at the increasing number of views this story is getting. I hope you guys will be just as excited for the next installments (though I have school to worry about as well). Anyways, happy reading, all!

**Featured Songs**:  
"Miracle" (Slow version) by Cascada. Sung by Tina, Sam, and Joe.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note**: Okay, guys. Here comes another chapter of my fan fiction, and I am getting so excited as I continue to write down my ideas and such. The views keep increasing every time a new chapter is uploaded, and I get some quite generous and amazing reviews from a few people. Keep them coming as you read. So, this chapter is basically Artie-centric, for he is a bit down-to-earth-ish and we see a bit of emotion coming from him since he just wants his best friend to let him know what's going on. Now that I have gotten that out of the way, let's keep this story rolling!

**Featured Pairings**: Samtina (Sam/Tina), implied!Finchel (Finn/Rachel), unrequited!Tartie (Tina/Artie)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything related to _Glee_. All of the rights to the show go to Ryan Murphy and Co., and Twentieth Century Fox.

* * *

**Many Colors  
**Chapter Nine

* * *

Ever since each other's encouragement to go through with the new glee club, Tina and the boys had been promising each other to assist with anything they needed, and even divided up the bit of work load. Tina agreed to gather more members, while Sam and Joe agreed to ask permission about Holly Holliday sponsoring, and to pick out some musical numbers to prepare for their competition (though Joe may needed a bit of some help from Sam or even Tina since he didn't know much outside of Christian music). However, since the Thanksgiving holidays were right around the corner, the trio thought it was in their best interest to lay back for a bit.

Tina was sitting at home Thursday morning in her cozy, yet a bit chilly bedroom with one of her favorite brown turtlenecks with the orange turkey embroidered in the center, decorated with sequins. Her mother had gotten it for her last Thanksgiving, and it was probably one of Tina's favorite articles of holiday clothing (it certainly beat the sloppily-prepared green and red Christmas sweater one of her aunts had knit for her). Speaking of aunts, they were coming over to have dinner in Tina's home, and the Asian girl couldn't be any more thrilled.

In the meantime, though, she still wanted to be ready for when school starts back up again, and she would be meeting Joe and Sam there to get their new club going. So she had spent about a couple of hours writing down a list of people she thought that could be interested in joining their glee club so they could ask. Tina was having that burning need to put Artie and Sugar on that list, but she thought back to what Sam said about it being stealing from New Directions. Maybe she'll think about them until further notice.

At the moment Tina was about to leave her room and find herself a Hostess Twinkie from the pantry downstairs to snack on, she heard her cell phone ring on her desk. She wasn't expecting a call from anyone today, unless it was either Joe or Sam about their plans for Monday.

The Asian girl skipped to her desk and checked the caller ID on her cell phone. _I knew it_, she thought once she saw Sam's name and a picture of him and his sister, Stacey on her phone screen. How cute. "Well, hey there, stranger," Tina replied once she responded to the rings, plopping down on her extremely soft comforter.

"Why the hell are you up on a free day?" Sam asked with a giggly tone, resting on his bed while his little brother, Stevie had been playing with two action figures his parents had gotten him. "Usually people stay in bed until, like, two in the afternoon on no-school days."

Tina pursed her lips together and folded her arms in front of her. "I happen to be the regular early bird today, thank you very much," she teased. "The better question is, why are you asking me this when you're ironically doing the same?"

"The bro and sis are bored, my parents are out shopping with Finn's parents, and I guess Finn and Rachel are out on some mini date until it's time to feast."

Tina had almost forgotten that Sam had came back from Kentucky, and he had stayed here in Ohio since the glee club needed another member to compete for this year's Sectionals since Brittany, Santana, and Mercedes joined Shelby Corcoran, Sugar Motta, and the other Troubletones members, and Rachel had been suspended for a week after that class president debacle. Speaking of Rachel, Tina felt sorry for the poor blonde football jock for having to stay at Finn's house and probably hearing her and her fiancé go at it like two beagles or something.

"Anything new?" the junior girl spoke up, wanting to get any and all thoughts of Finchel out of her head. She's had enough of seeing them slobbering on each other for three whole years.

Sam glanced around in the guest room that Mrs. Hudson was so generous to give up so that Sam could have a place to sleep. His brother had ended his little game with his action figures, and moved on to drawing something on a few sheets of paper. It looked like a red cow, or a really fat, bloody dog from where Sam had been sitting. "Not much," he replied to Tina over the phone.

Tina tapped her elbows a bit, trying to continue the conversation somehow. "Well, I figured out a list of people that we could ask when we get back to school," she started off, although it sounded bored and random coming from her. She had to tell him somehow, though, so he would know.

"Who do you have listed?" Sam asked, making himself a bit more comfortable on the guest bed as Tina told him everything.

"Maybe Sandy Ryerson isn't the best sponsor, but he does have a class full of amazing voices," Tina explained. "We could put up a notice in their room asking if one of them wants to join, and they can audition with us in one of the empty classrooms."

While Sam agreed to Tina's idea, his eyes started to furrow for a moment. "Wait, we have to stay in an empty classroom?" he questioned. "Why can't we just use the other choir room?"

"You do realize that they have afterschool sessions, too, you know, right?" the Asian junior questioned, laying her head onto some pillows sitting by her headboard. "I heard that they perform with the school band or something in Arkansas in about two weeks for a holiday show."

"Oh," Sam replied, almost unimpressed.

"However, we could always ask permission for their room when it's free," Tina suggested. "It'll be like staying in the old choir room, except it's a bit bigger."

"Though it's a bit closer to the band room," Sam added, "and I don't think we need that many distractions for when our new glee club rehearses and all."

Tina scoffed. "Oh please, don't act like we haven't been through distractions and noise before," she retorted. "Speaking of noise, since our new glee club consists of only neglected members, Rachel Berry won't be sticking her bird nose in. Seriously, it'll be so calm and peaceful; you can actually hear red robins outside."

Although Sam disapproved of the Asian beauty talking shit about New Directions' female lead behind her back, he found it humorous at how hysterical she was being about her. In some ways, though, Sam thought that Rachel was a serious talker as well. Not even that Suzy Pepper chick Finn and Mr. Schue told him about wasn't that social, he assumed.

"Can you hear birds right now?" Sam teased, a smug smirk growing on his face. Somehow, he was having fun with this conversation.

He could even hear Tina inhale on the other line. "God, yes," she replied with dramatic relief. "I can actually hear cars outside, too. Ever since the day I gave up my _West Side Story_ solo to her, I didn't know what the city sounded like anymore."

Sam started belly-laughing on the other line. It was mean for Tina to be saying such things about Rachel, but he couldn't help himself. He barely had these kind of conversations with Tina at all. He would usually expect these words to come out of Santana or Mercedes' mouth. "Okay, Tina, I think we can chill out now," he laughed, finally trying to cease the conversation.

Even Tina herself found it petty for her to be doing this. She joined in with Sam on the laughter. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she agreed, and then decided to change the topic. "So what is your family going to have for supper?"

"Two whole cows and a lamb," Sam replied simply, leaving Tina perplexed as ever. Once he heard the snickers on the other line, she gaped, feeling a bit foolish. "I'm just messing with you –"

"You have _one_ more time, Samuel Evans!" Tina called, nearly laughing her head off. Both of their faces were hurting from the laughter. They seemed to enjoy each other's time.

"It was going to take you a minute or so until you got the hint," Sam replied with a wink, even though Tina couldn't see it. Tina held in a smirk she was clearly showing off, although Sam couldn't see that as well. Sam was probably one of the most humorous people she's ever met. Maybe even funnier than Brittany S. Pierce for that matter (though some of the things she says can be funny at times). And during the times when Tina was deep in thought about her Rachel problems, Sam was there by her side like he promised. He was a true friend after all.

There was a pause in the conversation, and it became quiet between the two after their humorous conversation had died down. Tina felt like she had something to say to him, but she wasn't really sure what it was. Sam felt the need to say something, too, but the words weren't coming out right. He started to grow nervous a bit, and even mentally slapped himself on the head for it.

_Damn it, Sam. This isn't your first time speaking to a girl like this before. Remember the pretty blonde Cheerio you used to date? Or what about Santana? Or Mercedes?_

"S…Sam?" Tina nearly stuttered over the phone. _That stutter. That motherfucking stutter is back! Damn it, Tina, why now?_ "I have to go. I think my mom's going to need my help with food soon." It was best to end the conversation without it continuing as awkwardly as it was at that moment.

"Yeah, Stacey's gonna want me to make cookies with her or something," Sam giggled a bit. "It's our little thing each year – well, hers and my mom's, but…you know…"

Tina nodded understandably. "Yeah, I know. I know."

The blonde Titans football player shrugged. "Well, I guess this is goodbye."

"Until Monday morning," Tina added.

"Yeah, that's right. For…for our new glee club." Another awkward and silent pause. "Well…see you later, Tina."

"Later, Sam." And with that, the two hung up their phones and went their separate ways. Tina felt herself slapping her cheeks with both of her hands, sensing stupidity within herself somewhere. That didn't happen with conversations she usually had, except a couple she had with Artie in their freshman year.

Except back then, that was when Tina realized that, between her and Artie, there was a spark…

_Oh God, it can't be this, can it?_ It shouldn't be. It _couldn't_ be. She and Sam were only best friends, and Tina was in a loving relationship with Mike (or at least it would be loving if he would actually support her, for once). And yeah, Tina will admit that Sam was actually a bit hot and –

Wait, what? _Had Sam gotten into my head or something?_

Maybe now would be the time to check on the food downstairs, and maybe even check for any arriving guests to take her mind off of it.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Abrams household, Artie had been trying to contact Tina all day. However, her phone had shut off due to her need to save battery life. The wheelchair-bound junior even contacted her house phone, and Tina had informed him that she was busy with work. Artie thankfully understood Tina's reasoning, but he felt the need to talk to her and try to rekindle some of their friendship that had been forgotten since the Rachel fight.

The paraplegic had been keeping himself isolated in his room, doing nothing but laying down on his soft bed and staring up at the ceiling, feeling bored and lonely. His mother was probably downstairs cooking, and his other relatives were probably going to show up sometime later on.

Suddenly, his door creaked open, and the young boy's mother, looking to be somewhere in her thirties with just about the same colored hair as Artie appeared, finding him lying flat on the bed. "Dinner will be ready in about a few minutes," she announced to the down teenager, "and your uncles are coming in from Nashville. They got off the plane just about fifteen minutes ago."

Artie was literally emotionless. All he could reply with was just a shrug from his shoulders. "M'okay."

Artie's mother noticed how sad her son looked, and started interrogating him with much concern. "Something wrong, Artie? You haven't been acting like yourself lately."

"I'm…just kinda tired, mom," the wheelchair-bound kid spoke up a bit. "I'm gonna chill in here for a few more minutes."

Giving her son the amount of privacy that he probably needed, Mrs. Abrams had slowly left out of his room to check the food and the guests coming in through the front door. While it gave Artie time to think, it didn't help much with the situation he was in. A part of him was thinking that Tina just didn't want to talk to him anymore, or thought that she was hiding something behind his back. Artie didn't know what it was, but Tina wasn't telling him anytime soon.

Artie needed a relaxer. Yes, a relaxer. He needed something to get his mind off the pretty junior girl, and just find something else to entertain him. But…what, exactly? What the hell was going to get him out of this funk he was in?

The brunette male turned his head to his left, and found his IPod touch just sitting there, off and with the ear buds still attached to it. _Maybe music will help me a bit_, the paraplegic thought while staring at the electronic device. He started reaching for it, but then remembered that his arm could only reach out that far. _Damn, my broken-ass body._ He sat up on his bed, and successfully grabbed the black device, lying back down on his bed and putting the earphones on.

By the time he turned the thing on and searched for a song to listen to at random, one stuck out to him that he thought wasn't going to be on his mind. It was one of his favorite Drake songs, and it totally fit the situation that he was in.

_**Artie  
**__Waited on you for so long  
__Too many days since January  
__I'm still sitting here alone  
__We shoulda did this already_

_Said I gotta email today  
__Kinda thought that you, forgot about me  
__But I wanna hit you back to say  
__Just like you, I get lonely_

While the song was playing in his ears, and he was singing along with the song, Artie reflected a bit back on his friendship with Tina in the past. To him, Tina was the only best friend that Artie ever had. Finn was a best friend as well, and so was Mercedes; but neither one of them had the friendship that Tina had. Everyone had a special friendship with someone, and they did unique things that other friendships wouldn't have. That's what Artie felt about him and Tina.

_**Artie  
**__Baby  
__I could really get to know you  
__Take my time and show you  
__Don't tell anybody what we do  
__When I get lonely_

_Take me  
__To another place where I'll be  
__Face to face, just you and me  
__With no rules, just like you  
__I get lonely too ooh ooh  
__Hoo ooh hoh, hoo ooh hoh_

_Just like you  
__I get lonely too ooh ooh  
__Hoo ooh hoh  
__Just like you  
__I get lonely  
__I get lonely  
__Just like you_

The song had then ended peacefully, and it made the wheelchair-bound teen feel like crying at the moment. He wasn't sure if he necessarily lost a friend, or if his friend lost him. Both ways hurt the same. Artie even realized that he and Tina haven't had real one-on-one conversations with each other since Tina started dating Mike Chang. Sure, the guy was cool and all, but how could their bond be forgotten for someone with a hot set of abs?

Okay, now he couldn't tell whether he was being jealous of Mike, or if he was thinking about his own personal body issues…or _Mike's_. He had to stop thinking like that.

"Artie, time to eat!" the brunette teen heard his mother call from downstairs. He assumed that his uncles at arrived, judging by the sound of belly laughter and loud stomping noises. Maybe he needed some cranberries in him to cheer him up.

Or perhaps some macaroni. Better yet, a full container of ice cream with his whole meal.

* * *

For some students in McKinley High, Thanksgiving break took almost forever to end. For others, it was too short. Either way, school started back up again, and everyone was up to the usual: doing class work and wandering around the halls with tardy passes in handy. Today, in fact, was a cheerful day for Tina, despite it being gloomy outside. She had her best smile on her face, because she, Sam, and Joe were about to carry out their plans as they went over them.

Throughout the whole school day, the trio had been hanging fliers up in random locations such as the band room, the boys' locker room, and even the bathrooms, hoping that no one from New Directions would see what they were up to. The three had argued over this idea for a while. Sam agreed to it since it would influence more members to come see them; but Joe felt like a New Directions member would notice, and then there would be tension (though he was against hiding things from them before). Tina thought that they should give it a shot so they would be sure.

Artie had been noticing the unusually cheerful behavior coming from Tina, and found it to be a bit awkward. Why was she so happy anyways? And how come she wasn't telling him about the whole conversation she and Sam were having the other day? Something was going on, and Artie had to find out what it was.

Somewhere around lunch time, Tina had separated from Joe and Sam to advertise more fliers for their new glee club. So far, no one from New Directions knew about their plan, and it had Tina so over the moon –

"Tina! We need to talk." Or so she thought she was.

The Asian girl literally panicked once she heard the sound of Artie's voice behind her. The crippled boy was rolling closer to her, and Tina still had the fliers in her hands. She couldn't allow Artie to see these.

"Oh…Artie, hey," Tina greeted with a bit of panic in the tone of her voice. She thought she could get away with it by speed-walking, but Artie somehow caught up by putting more force into his arms and more speed into his wheels.

"Tina, where are you going?" he called to her.

"Artie, now isn't the right time for us to talk," Tina responded, still walking to…well, where the hell was she even going?

"You pinkie swore you'd talk to me today, Tina," Artie protested once he caught up with her, his wheels making a stop once he made it in front of the worried girl. "Through text," Artie added.

"Okay, and I will," Tina replied, "but right now, I have to –"

Before the Asian girl could go anywhere, she accidentally slipped and made a dive for the floor, with all of the fliers that were in her hands literally flying in any which direction. Tina felt a bit humiliated, but not as much so some football jock or even a Cheerio would slash her with some vicious words.

Her embarrassment was almost the last thing on her mind. She had noticed that Artie was still sitting there, gazing at the many papers that were floating around him in midair. One of them just so happened to fall on his lap, and he picked it up so he could read it. Shit. Shit. Shit. Fuck. No! Tina couldn't let Artie see those, or someone from New Directions could know about it.

"And what do we have here?" the nerdy, glasses-sporting teen interrogated as he glanced a bit over the typed words written in different colors on a light green background.

"Artie, give that back!" Tina argued, but the paraplegic rolled a couple of steps away from her. Tina suddenly got frustrated, for she didn't know what was with Artie's attitude, but it certainly wasn't getting her what she wanted. Without even bothering to pick up the other fliers that had fallen, Tina raced after Artie to retrieve the one in his hands. However, he wouldn't let her have it, and he pretty much read half of the paper.

"McKinley High School," Artie read aloud, stubbornly, "do you have a voice that you want to make known? Do you think you got what it takes? Sign-ups for McKinley's brand new show choir start today at three-thirty. Any range, any preference of music, and any student is welcome."

Tina literally grit her teeth together at how ignorant Artie was being towards her, and now he finally knew what she and the boys had been doing all this time. _Can't there be a time where everyone's not all in my business?_ Tina wondered as Artie gave her a stern, disappointed look.

The wheelchair-bound boy folded his arms in front of his chest. "Is there something you're not telling me, Tina? I think there is."

At that point, Tina started to get really irritated and impatient with the boy, and started to lash out on him a bit. "Artie, this wasn't supposed to be any of your business!" However, she knew a counterargument was going to be thrown back at her.

"Oh, so after you promised that we get to have a discussion on what's going on in your daily life, it's suddenly _none of my business_?" Artie argued back. "Whatever happened to when you usually came to me for something, whether it was an issue or just a leisure chat amongst friends?"

"I have other people for that, too, you know."

"Yeah, but at the end of the day, none of those people have just as much of a connection we've made over the past few years," Artie barked back, "'cause you wanna know why? They know nothing of how sacred our friendship is or was supposed to be."

"I – just, I –"

"And – Tina, look. I understand that you're going through a rough time in your life since you've left Rachel, Mr. Schue, and everyone else behind at New Directions; but with New Directions or not, you can at least have the decency to confide in me, too. You act like you lost everything New Directions has when a bright person like you knows you haven't."

Tina was stunned. She didn't have anything to argue back with, and she knew that Artie had been right all this time. _Wow…I really did abandon him, did I?_ He was right; he and Tina had that type of bond that no one else in the glee club really had. What Tina and Artie had was some secret – well, not _secret_, per say – platonic friendship although they've dated each other at one point. Whether they were dating or not, they shared everything. _Everything_. Hell, even Artie informed her about his still-functioning penis (though that was probably _too_ much information).

When it really got down to it, Artie had been there for Tina this whole time. He was nothing like either Sam or Joe; he was different from them. Everyone was different, actually, the same way that every friendship is different. Regardless, though, Tina needed to stop hiding things away from her best friend and make things right.

"You're right, Artie," Tina admitted with a sigh and a bit of a shoulder slump. Artie eyed her back with that melancholy look on his face. "We've been in the glee club together since we were freshmen, and even a little before that point in our high school lives. We were always there for each other when no one else was."

There was a three-second pause before Artie nodded in agreement. "Like that time you were running late for school, and you tripped into that big watery mud puddle a few feet away from the door," he responded with a chuckle, and Tina managed to chuckle back.

"You had that extra sweater for me in your locker," Tina recalled that little day of events, and Artie nodded to it, chuckling a bit at the memory. "And thank you, by the way…again. I really appreciate it."

"It wasn't trouble," Artie responded dismissively. "After all, you helped me get inside the school a few times in the winter when there was hella ice on the ground."

"And that damn Tony Cusack guy on the football team had pushed you so fast on it once that you literally collided into a bush."

"My face still hurts from the tiny branches," Artie responded, rubbing his face and making a painful facial expression that made Tina giggle a bit. Artie had been right all along, and Tina was just overlooking it so much. They had been friends since the beginning of time in McKinley High, and they've been separated ever since they got into junior year. Of course, Tina was dating Mike, and Artie was finding opportunities to do other activities and date people like Brittany and Becky – both of which turned out terribly – but they didn't want to be so distant that they barely even recognized their last lunch outing or something like that.

All of these memories with the handicap-able teen made Tina miss him, though they've technically been by each other several moments in the past two or three years. "I'm sorry, Artie," Tina finally said, "for how I've been acting. I just…I've been mad last week, and I just wanted to handle my problems better. However, I had isolated myself from most of the New Directions, and Sam and Joe had been assisting me. I didn't want to even leave you out from the start."

Artie furrowed his eyes for a moment. "Wait, really?"

"Yes. It was originally my idea to check with some of the neglected members of New Directions and see if they wanted to join the new glee club we started to put together," Tina explained, "but Sam thought it would just be stealing from the old glee club –"

"Unless someone from New Directions quits." Artie added with a shrug.

Tina furrowed her eyes for a minute. _Was Artie really serious? Would he quit New Directions just to help me?_ Unfortunately, for New Directions, that would cost them another member, and there would be tension between both groups about it. Then again, like Artie implied, he would be helping Tina like a best friend should, and he _was_ neglected in the original glee club.

"Artie, you…?" Tina started to speak before the paraplegic rolled in front of her and sighed with confidence.

"I'm in."

* * *

**Author's Note**: Well, this hit me right in the feels once again. OMG, I may not be the biggest Tartie shipper (though I still do ship Tartie), but their friendship would've been so epic if it were used more often. It disappoints me that Ryan separated the two freshmen from season one and made them move on to other people. I was actually hoping for Tartie to rekindle a bit, but those hopes are kinda gone.

Oh, and this is kinda random, but I want to wish Blake Jenner a happy belated birthday, and Samuel Larsen a happy birthday. And wow, this chapter was published on Samuel's birthday! I know he's not gonna see it, but it's still awesome. I know I won't be able to upload a chapter on Lea Michele's birthday, but I want to wish her a happy early birthday as well.

Anyways, thank you guys, and I can't wait to hear your thoughts! Reviews are appreciated, and happy reading!

* * *

**Featured Songs**:  
"I Get Lonely Too" by Drake. Sung by Artie Abrams.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note**: Hey, hey, hey! I came back in about a good amount of time, and I am here to present another chapter of _Many Colors_ to you all. A lot has been going on lately. I have been struggling a bit with school work, and I had been attached to the recently-debuted mix tape, _3 Blind Costumes_, by Samuel Larsen (aka stems), which kicks ass, BTW. So many wonderful songs, and I wasn't expecting some of the lyrics from some of them. They're really amazing, and I recommend them to anyone who hasn't heard them.

Anyways, without further ado, let me present to you chapter 10 of _Many Colors_. Happy reading, all!

**Featured Pairings**: Jam (Joe/Sam), implied!Tartie (Tina/Artie), Ecohart (Tina/Sam/Joe), unrequited!Tinathan (Tina/Jonathan)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything related to _Glee_. All of the rights to the show go to Ryan Murphy and Co., and Twentieth Century Fox.

* * *

**Many Colors  
**Chapter Ten

* * *

Sam and Joe had been in the library for about a few minutes, searching up some possible songs on Sam's laptop that the group could perform in their new glee club with Tina and whoever else was going to be admitted into the group. They hung up all of the posters they had, and then moved on to the music. They haven't found anyone yet that would want to join, but they insisted on preparing their set lists, group assignments, and other stuff before that time had came.

Joe had an ear bud in his right ear, looking onto Sam's laptop screen, and Sam had an ear bud in his left ear. Both boys had looked up a couple of selections on YouTube for the past few minutes already. They randomly found the Black Eyed Peas music video for the song _Boom Boom Pow_, and decided to watch it. In his head somewhere, Sam was dancing his ass off to the beat, while Joe nodded his head skeptically but was also confused at the same time.

"You know, this can't be much of a competition song, probably," Sam spoke up quietly so other people in the library won't hear him, "but what if we just randomly busted out into song with this?" He paused, sensing the awkwardness between him and Joe, and then shrugged. "I don't know, that's just what I thought."

Joe nodded awkwardly, and turned slowly back to the laptop screen, his eyes focusing on the "suggestions" section on the side of the page. "Sam…what is a _hollaback girl_?" the dreadlocked teen questioned, confused.

The Titans football player looked on with Joe, and found the famous Gwen Stefani music video, the third one below some advertisement for some Nike shoes. He kept on questioning to himself if he and Joe should watch. When that song came out, he honestly didn't get the point of it, except it had a bunch of cheerleaders from different teams on it, along with a random marching band and some random grocery store shots. "I think no male ever should know what that even means," he told Joe in response.

Truthfully, Sam thought it was the truth. Truthfully.

Just when the video was coming to an end, Tina had just walked over to the boys' table and sat in an empty seat beside Sam. "Guys, we have some good news," Tina announced, placing her stuff on the ground by her chair. "I got us a new member for our glee club."

"Seriously?" Sam asked, surprised. "Who did you get?"

"Artie."

At that, both boys had their eyes literally bugged out of their heads. "Artie?" they asked in unison, which had the librarian alertly wandering her eyes around to find the boys at their table.

"Tina, he's in New Directions, remember?" Sam asked, literally panicking on the inside. "He's not supposed to know."

"I told him everything, Sam. There's no going back. Besides, he promised that he wouldn't tell anyone from New Directions that we were doing this in the first place. He's my best friend, just like you guys are. I know he would keep a secret. Trust me."

"Keep what a secret?" Tina almost screamed when she heard that familiar voice from behind her. All three former glee club members turned to face the Motta's piano heiress walking towards them and leaning against Tina and Sam's chairs.

Joe felt like he was trapped the moment he saw her, just as Tina and Sam did. "Holy –"

"Shit." Sam gritted his teeth together.

"Hey there, all," Sugar greeted, fraudulently cheerful. "Steve, Jake, Gina –"

"It's Sam," Sam corrected.

"It's Joe," Joe replied, slumping his shoulders a bit.

"It's Tina," Tina muttered, a bit annoyed.

"Whatevs; it's the same thing," Sugar dismissed, walking around the table slowly until she placed her backpack and purse in the chair beside Joe's. Teen Jesus gave the spoiled brat a bewildered facial expression, Sam pressed his lips together awkwardly, and Tina just rolled her eyes. "You know, I didn't think you three would be in here at lunch time –"

"Get to the point, Sugar," Tina interrupted, folded her arms on the table. Sam placed a gentle hand on Tina's left arm, and turned back to the arrogant sophomore girl.

"Well, let me just say that ever since you, Tina, and your other two Musketeers have left the glee club, you've been awful busy while you were away, haven't you?" Sugar asked, scratching the bottom of her chin. Sam and Joe just looked at each other, and then back to Sugar, judging her extra hard in their minds. "In fact, no one from the New Directions has even spoken to you, and you haven't spoken back, ever since that quite eventful Wednesday afternoon. No one, except for Artie, that is."

Tina suddenly gazed at Sugar, stunned. _What the fuck? Did she – I never knew that – Sugar?_ "Had you been spying on me or something?" Tina asked, almost furious.

"It's not like it was on purpose or anything," Sugar shrugged. "Besides, you pretty much made a fool out of yourself in the hallway. Had I had my phone out, and Instagram would've gotten itself a new weekly hit."

Tina literally gaped at Sugar's response. Joe and Sam felt the need to step out of this conversation. "That sounds kinda mean," Joe admitted, worried and looking from Sugar to Tina and back.

"Do you even know what Instagram is?" Sugar asked coldly, which left Joe in another awkward pause. "Your parents need to consider buying a laptop or a cell phone for you. It would be totes helpful, and you won't have to sit in your room with nothing but a religious, one-million-page, hard-cover story book to keep you entertained."

"It's a Bible…" Joe responded, a bit down all of a sudden.

"Sorry. Aspergers."

Whenever Sugar made that as an excuse almost every time for her horrible slams at people, it was almost unbelievable to the Asian junior girl. Tina was almost losing her patience. Thank God Sam was there to calm her down just a tad, though it didn't help much.

"Anyways, when I was in the hallway trying to comb my hair and text someone about the latest episode of _Teen Wolf_, and I came across Tina and Artie having a conversation about a new glee club…"

Tina, Sam, and Joe became more speechless as Sugar continued. When it came to Sugar, they knew that they were going to be busted for sure. "And when I heard about that, it had me wondering," Sugar went on, "didn't Tina just leave one glee club already?" The spoiled sophomore shrugged. "Of course, you guys couldn't possibly be joining the Troubletones since we've been disbanded, and Sam and Joe couldn't possibly be a part of an all-female group. So there had to be one other option." Sugar paused, and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Anything to confess?"

Tina looked awkwardly to her left at the sight of Sam and Joe's stunned facial expressions. All three of them were stuck. There was no way to get out of this predicament, and Sugar was impatiently waiting for an answer. Not even the best yet dumbest excuse could get them out of this.

The strawberry blonde girl turned her head towards the dreadlocked teen beside her, sporting an ironically-sweet smile on her face. "Joseph," she spoke up, having Joe a bit terrified out of his skin, "I know you can't lie to me, now can you? Little Joe doesn't like to lie, does he?"

Joe sat there, frozen and confused on what to do. He kept stuttering with every word he tried to get out of his mouth. Sugar just placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Tongue tied, much?" she asked with a sweet yet bitchy tone, and Joe didn't say much more. The self-diagnosed Aspergers poster child turned her head to Sam and Tina, giving them both stern looks.

Someone had to say something. There was no going back.

"Sugar," Tina sighed, getting ready to face pretty much anything, "we actually do have something to say –"

"We're creating a new glee club for neglected people," Sam suddenly announced without even taking a breath.

"Sam!" the Asian girl exclaimed, gritting her teeth and earning a shush from the librarian, who was probably about thirty steps away.

"What? She's terrifying." The junior blonde whispered in Tina's direction.

"I can hear, you know," Sugar responded coldly. "This isn't the mob."

Tina rubbed her forehead for just a minute before she could fully explain what was going on to Sugar. "Sugar, we basically created this new glee club in order to grab the attention of the people who feel are being sidelined in whatever they do. Other people have voices that we're sure want to be presented to other people, and –"

"Oh, so this is revenge at New Directions, basically?" the spoiled girl asked the three.

"Not necessarily," Tina clarified, "mainly revenge at Rachel Berry and Mr. Schuester for all the trouble that's been caused this past week."

"Where do I sign?" Sugar immediately spoke up, which had Tina, Joe, and Sam all surprised.

"Wait, you actually want to join?" Sam asked, perplexed.

"Well, duh," Sugar answered, now excited. "If it's one thing I like, it's witnessing payback; and you, Tina, are totes getting it. Besides, I'd rather be in a cold basement than to hear Rachel say mean stuff about me and slob all over her Brad Pitt. Sorry. Aspergers."

Still not believing what they just heard, Tina and the boys glanced at each other with impressed looks on their faces. "Alrighty then," Tina announced, "we only need seven more people to join our glee club, and we'll be in business."

"Does your glee club have a director or something?" Sugar asked at random before taking a pause and thinking about the answer. "Unless it's supposed to be one of you or something."

"What makes you think it's one of us?" Sam asked, confused.

"Who said I think it should?" the spoiled brat retorted. There was once again another awkward pause before Sugar spoke up again. "You guys could make me direct!" she cheerfully replied, and Tina and Sam started sporting some bewildered, disgusted facial expressions. "And I already know the perfect name for the group: Sugar and the Spices!"

"_Sugar and the Spices_?" Joe questioned, trying to figure out how that name would even tie with the purpose of the new glee club.

"I wouldn't recommend it," Sam told Joe with a shrug.

"We're still trying to figure out names at the moment," Tina announced, "so things won't be set in stone with that just yet." Sam, Joe, and even Sugar nodded in response. "However, we do have our new glee club director in mind."

* * *

Both Sam and Tina had experience with having Holly Holliday as a glee club director – well, at least a _substitute_ of a glee club director. Nonetheless, she was amazing when Sam and Tina saw her last, maybe even better than Mr. Schue. Hell, she allowed New Directions to perform freakin' Cee Lo Green, unlike the vested brunette male who had a prominent interest in Journey. If anything, the new glee club needed some kick-ass songs that'll be great attention grabbers, and will better the chances at winning.

Tina was confident that Holly could be a candidate to help them make it there. After all, she was a very encouraging woman.

"_Hola, clase!_" A pretty, blonde, young lady with a loud, sing-songy, and cheerful tone in her voice addressed the Spanish class that she was lecturing. Normally in a Spanish classroom – well, from what Tina had seen, at least – the other students would be unengaged with the whole foreign-language lessons a teacher would be educating them on (truth be told, some of them still did it now).

"_Buenos dias_, students. We're gonna get our little _Espanol_ on today, and kick it off with…" Holly grabbed a briefcase that had been standing up on the floor by her feet, and pulled out a huge, plastic card with a black letter A printed on it. "The personal _A_," she introduced the lesson, encouraging. "For this lesson, we're going to have a little heart-to-heart with the first letter of the alphabet! The other vowels alphabet made this attempt to get in touch with our favorite letter, but the letter A declined the intervention. Wanna know why? Well…A said that it was _personal_!"

Well, at least she attempted to keep the students entertained.

As the blonde lady tended with the bunch of bored and impatient teenagers, she heard a knock at the front door, and found Sam waiting there patiently and wandering his eyes a bit. "Miss Holiday, can I have a word with you out here?" he asked politely, earning a simple nod from the substitute.

She turned back to her class and addressed all of the students. "Okay, clase. _Mira a traves de las paginas cincuenta y nueve a sesenta y dos de sus libros en espanol, y responder a las preguntas mientras salgo por un minuto_." Of course, no one understood what she meant, so she just directed everyone's attention towards the white board with the instructions written in English. Once everyone got a clear idea on what they're supposed to do, they all started working and Holly walked on out the door with Sam to find Tina, Joe, and Sugar waiting in the hall. "_En que puedo ayudarle?_"

Joe was the only one standing there, furrowing his eyebrows at Holly's almost-to-fully fluent Spanish words. "Excuse me…?"

"How may I help you guys?" Holly clarified with a smirk, and Joe nodded with certainty.

"Miss Holiday," Tina started, stepping up from between Joe and Sugar, "we were wondering if you could help us out with something."

The blonde Spanish substitute started to show a bit of concern in her facial expressions. "Anything you need, doll."

"Well, it's kind of a long story, if you don't mind me explaining," Tina began. "See, a lot of people in New Directions are getting sidelined and not getting enough solos in the glee club. I was even concerned about the fact that I might not get to sing at Regionals…ever again." Holly nodded with every word coming out of Tina's mouth. "So I quit the glee club because they weren't treating me fair back there." Tina took a pause to breathe. "But then, Joe and I came up with this idea to start a new club –"

Holly folded her arms and skeptically gazed at the four former New Directions members (well, Sugar was technically still in New Directions for the time being). "So you're basically saying that you want to stay in the glee club, singing along with the people you love and are comfortable with; but you want revenge at the same time?"

The four students were stunned. _Man, Holly figured that out fast_, Tina thought in the back of her mind. "Exactly, yes."

"And why have you come to me about this instead of Will?" Holly interrogated. "How is the butt-chinned papa bear anyway? Does he still jam to 70s music?"

Tina shrugged with a smirk. "Same old, same old. Kinda different, in a way, but…"

Confused for the umpteenth time today, Teen Jesus leaned towards Sam and asked, "_They call him butt chin?_"

"_It ain't as bad as Count Boozy Von Drunk-a-Ton_," Sam responded with a shrug, having Joe deep in thought and about twenty percent more confused than before. "_Don't ask._"

"Well, Miss Holiday," Tina spoke up again, addressing the blonde lady before her, "no one from New Directions should really…know about this. It's a secret from Mr. Schue and everyone else. I wanted to gather up my own members and form a group with new voices. So far, it's just me, Sam, Joe, Sugar, and Artie; but we need seven more people." The Asian beauty paused. "And we need an adult sponsor as well," she added.

Holly cocked an eyebrow on her forehead. "I take this as an invitation for me to assist with you guys in your new glee club?"

"It would mean the world to us," Tina replied, with a breathless smile.

With that, Holly looked at all of the students before her and grinned from ear to ear, putting her hands on her hips. "I thought you'd never ask."

Now Tina felt more over the moon than before. The gang was getting closer than she would've thought before.

* * *

Later that day, Holly had scheduled to meet with Tina, Joe, Sam, and Sugar in the Spanish classroom to talk about glee club auditions and gathering new members. Now that Principal Figgins had approved of the new glee club, they could get started on other preparations. Tina and Sugar even got Artie to come join since he was now in their new glee club as well.

"I may not have been a glee club director at any point in my life," Holly explained, "but I do know a thing or two from mentoring with you guys last year. Just tell me what you gotta do, and I'll try my best to contribute and make it happen." She took a seat at a desk sitting near the front of the room, and Tina and Sam sat on either side of her. Joe and Artie found a seat beside Tina, and Sugar made her way towards an empty seat beside Sam.

"Trust me, Miss H. We've got it covered," Tina assured the older woman. "Right now, we can just audition about fifteen students, and see if we can find seven talented people with perfect voices and neglected souls to help us move on to competition."

Artie just sat there with his index finger scratching his chin. "I don't know if this is going to work," he thought aloud. "What if we can't find the seven we need in time?"

"We'll have more time, Artie," Tina responded. "Trust me; what could go wrong?"

Artie pressed his lips together, still unsure. _Whenever people say that, something coincidentally and ironically goes wrong_, he thought in the back of his head.

About three minutes later, a teenage girl – perhaps she's a freshman or something – entered the room quietly and trying to calm herself down a bit with a few deep breaths. She had a red polo shirt on with some white capris and a gray sweater tied around her waist. She had really light brunette hair with some yellow, green, and purple butterfly pins in it.

"Hello, can we have your name, please?" Sam asked, looking through a clipboard that had been sitting on his desk.

The brunette girl sighed loudly and with confidence. "Hi, my name is Dana Carson," Dana spoke up towards Holly and the former New Directions members, "and I will be performing _Popular_ from the musical, _Wicked_." Everyone else in the room nodded with interest in the young teenager, but then had their eyes literally bugging out of their heads once they first heard her sing.

_**Dana  
**__Whenever I see someone less fortunate than I  
__My tender heart tends to start to bleed  
__And when someone needs a makeover  
__I simply have to take over  
__I know, I know exactly what they need_

Artie had this look on his face that was literally screaming, "I wish I powered up my IPhone before I left the house today." Sam and Joe both had speechless facial expressions, but not in a good way. Holly literally had to blink multiple times to check and see if this was her reality. Sugar made a disgusted look on her face (though she could be just as worst as Dana, ironically). Tina felt like she didn't even want to hear anymore. She was starting to have a literal migraine.

"Um…Dana?" Tina spoke up, and the young teenage girl stop singing immediately, folding her hands together anxiously. She looked so nervous about what Tina was going to say about her. Now Tina knew what Mr. Schue was feeling when Sugar auditioned. "We'll keep in touch, 'kay?" the Asian junior spoke after seconds of silence, and Dana sadly walked out of the room with her head sunk to the ground. Poor girl.

A caramel-skinned boy had walked in the room once Dana left. He had so much hair on his head. It looked to be a very loose and curly afro. It's like a cuddly poodle made his head its bed for the rest of its life. "What's up? I'm Jonathan Sanders, and I'm gonna be crankin' a bit of Ginuwine in this piece."

Joe's eyebrow inched up on his forehead. "_Crankin'_?" he repeated what Jonathan said.

"Ginuwine?" Sugar repeated with a smile on her face and almost jumpy at the thought of the recognizable song artist.

_**Jonathan  
**__If you're horny, let's do it  
__Ride it, my pony  
__My saddle's waiting  
__Come and jump on it_

Everyone's eyes were bugged out of their heads, especially when Jonathan had been busting out some provocative dance moves in place. The more he continued to grind, the more awkward Sam and Artie started to feel. Tina even had to cover Joe's ears as he continued, being that Joe was too innocent to understand what type of _pony_ Jonathan was referring to.

As the curly-haired teen kept singing, he gave Tina some appreciative glances in her direction, winking every once in a while and licking his lips a bit. Tina could feel her face heating up at the moment. I mean, the song was pretty sexy, and Jonathan was a pretty good –

_Act professional for your teammates, Tina. Act professional!_

"Tina…Tina?!" Artie called, trying to get the junior girl's attention. _God, I hope we didn't lose her!_

"Um, Jonathan," Holly spoke up, understand how uncomfortable the others were feeling, "maybe next time, we can find you a more appropriate song. Until then, thanks for auditioning." Jonathan just shrugged sheepishly, and started walking out of the door.

"And…what was wrong with that song again?" Joe asked, looking from his left to his right. Tina giggled a bit on the inside at Joe's curiosity, while Artie palmed his face.

A few more students entered the room to audition their pieces before Holly and the other students. One of them was a light-skinned, 170-pound, blonde junior girl named Maxine Wells who performed Adele's _Someone Like You_. Tina could easily remember when she heard Santana and Mercedes perform that song as a mash-up with Adele's other hit, _Rumor Has It_.

It sure did sound better than Maxine's version of the song.

_**Maxine  
**__Never mind, I'll find someone like you  
__I wish nothing but the best for you  
__Don't forget me, I beg  
__I remember you said  
_"_Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead"_

The blonde junior was literally screaming, not singing. As much as Tina understood her attempts at sounding powerful like Rachel Berry and Mercedes Jones, it didn't seem to work here. "Okay, Maxine?"

_**Maxine  
**__Never mind, baby, I'll find someone like you  
__Baby, I want nothing more than the best for you_

Sam and Artie craned their heads at Maxine's changing the lyrics to the song. Tina started to get annoyed when she tried to grab her attention but she didn't reply. "Maxine!" The blonde girl, startled, immediately stopped and dropped her jaw at Tina's so-called _rudeness_. "Thank you very much," Tina told the large girl before her, who just huffed and stormed out of the room.

Another boy named Rodney Harriman had entered the room. He was quite a shy and silent sophomore student. It reminded Artie of a male version of Tina (all he needed was the Goth look and a couple of colorful streaks in his hair). He told everyone that he was going to perform B.O.B's _Nothing On You_. He originally had someone coming with him to do the rapping parts, but they left him in the dust, unfortunately.

_**Rodney  
**__Beautiful girls all over the world  
__I could be chasin', but my time would be wasted  
__They got nothing on you, baby  
__Nothing on you, baby_

Unfortunately, neither Holly nor the former New Directions members could hear a thing he was singing. "Honey, could you sing a bit louder?" Holly directed to the shy sophomore. However, Rodney sung at the same pitch he sung previously, grabbing onto his dress-shirt sleeve and looking down at the ground.

Tina had to close her eyes and pinch her temple so she could calm herself down. Joe and Artie tried catching her attention to see if she was okay. It wasn't until she quickly lifted her head and called to Rodney that the two almost jumped out of their skin. "Okay, Rod. Thanks a lot. Next!" With that, Rodney nearly ran out of the room, biting down on his lip and on the verge of breaking down.

There was this one red-headed boy that entered the room, and he had braces on his teeth and a lot of bling necklaces on his neck. It looked as if he was about to sing some horrible white-guy rap, according to Artie. Tina definitely didn't want to hear it.

"Ey yo, homies!" the boy spoke in his best rapper voice.

Unfortunately, Tina declined him immediately. "No." The redhead just shrugged and lazily walked out of the classroom, leaving the space to be empty. No one entered the room after that, and Tina's head fell onto the desk, the poor girl feeling tired as ever.

"We should've kept Jonathan," Sugar admitted, disappointed.

"We shouldn't even mention him again," Artie replied, rolling his eyes.

"I didn't think this would be so difficult," Joe spoke, looking down and slumping a bit in his chair.

"Tina," Holly spoke up to the girl beside her, rubbing her back softly. "Like you said, we can keep trying. We'll have twelve members in time. You have us to help you, remember that." Joe, Artie, Sam, and Sugar nodded in agreement, with Joe rubbing Tina's arm gently.

"I seriously hope so," Tina finally spoke up.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Well, that's chapter ten! What did you guys think? What were your reactions to the auditions I included here? What about Sugar in this chapter? Or Joe, or perhaps Holly? I thought this was one of my most comedic chapters, because it was really funny when I was typing it. I just wanted to know what you all thought of it. Anyways, thank you guys, and I hope you'll stay tuned for the next installment. Happy reading!

* * *

**Featured Songs**:  
"Popular" from _Wicked_. Sung by Dana Carson  
"Pony" by Ginuwine. Sung by Jonathan Sanders  
"Someone Like You" by Adele. Sung by Maxine Wells  
"Nothing On You" by B.O.B feat. Bruno Mars. Sung by Rodney Harriman


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note**: Hello, all. Here's another chapter of my fan fiction, _Many Colors_, and ideas for this chapter came in when I had been writing chapter ten, BTW. That's a good thing for me, especially, 'cause I seriously hate those days when I get writer's block. Well, everyone does, right?

Okay, so I am going to be introducing some contestants from _The Glee Project_ into my fan fiction. There's no guaranteed in everyone being there (really, everyone isn't going to be there; just ones I used for characters I created). If you're upset at some point that I don't include someone, I'm sorry. Really, I am. I love everyone on that show, and I hope they get the best.

Before I ramble on, I hereby present to you chapter eleven of _Many Colors_. Happy reading!

**Featured Pairings**: Jam (Joe/Sam), Brittana (Brittany/Santana), unrequited!Wildehart (Kitty/Joe)

**New Characters**: Samantha Reese (Shanna Henderson), Adriana Hampton (Emily Vasquez)

**Warning**: Coarse language

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything related to _Glee_. All of the rights to the show go to Ryan Murphy and Co., and Twentieth Century Fox.

* * *

**Many Colors  
**Chapter Eleven

* * *

Monday's attempt at trying to find new members for the new glee club was a little rough. Actually, Tina was unable to find a new member that day, so she, Holly, and the other members would have to continue looking throughout the week. In the meantime, Sam and Joe had left their classes and were walking down the hall, having discussions about Sam on the football team.

"You were able to get back on the team?" Joe asked, clutching one of his hands onto the messenger bag that was hanging on his shoulder. "I thought Coach Beiste said that there were no more spots to fill."

"Well, that's what she said before one of the team members got taken off the team for jacking someone's car and damaging another person's car with rocks the size of their fists," Sam explained with a shrug. Joe nodded, and then started to get concerned for that poor football jock. "I was lucky, really. I had joined the synchronized swimming team, too, but I don't think it's good to be slushied after a cool dip. My rep had been effed up the moment I got back here."

Joe inched an eyebrow on his head. He never really encountered a slushie before – well, a slushie _facial_ really; he would buy blue raspberry slushies sometimes to eat. He wondered what a slushie thrown at the face feels like. Probably feels like falling into a pile of snow, face-first. The only difference is that, slushies are made of ice and artificial fruits, which is tasty and dangerous at the same time. "That sounds kind of…wrong."

"Trust me, you don't want them to make you the target," Sam assured, adjusting his backpack strap. "I'm surprised Figgins even realizes that people throw slushies in the first place." Joe nodded in agreement.

Unexpectedly and quite rudely, Santana had bumped into Joe while she had been walking down the hallway with her girlfriend, Brittany. They were both heading towards the girls' locker room to prepare for a Cheerios routine they had to practice for when the girls head to Sectionals. At the feeling of Santana's touch, Joe started to feel a bit terrified of the Latina.

The brunette senior girl whirled around and eyed Teen Jesus and the guppy-lipped blonde. "Well hey there, Fish Lips and Spider Head. How lovely to bump into you two boy creatures." Santana told them, sarcastically and annoyed. Or was _disgusted_ the other word to use? Her face definitely showed it.

Sam noticed the terrified look on Joe's face when Santana had addressed him. He knew that there had been some tension and issues going on between him and Santana lately. It had been like this since last week when Santana had the nerve to start up some uncomfortable table conversation, which eventually led to Joe's uneasy feeling about Santana's sexuality. The glee club accepted anyone, no matter what sex or gender they were; but Joe had been taught that going straight was the way to go. Sometimes, it was so conflicting to be a Christian in this world.

"If they're both creatures, Sam is the magical mermaid from the deep end of the Pacific Ocean," Brittany added, absent-mindedly, "and Jim could be the adventurous forest girl in their private island."

Joe awkwardly gaped. "My name is Joe." He wasn't even going to attempt telling Brittany what gender he was, since people have told her about a million times.

"Yeah, Joe from the hellish side of God's chamber," Santana muttered ignorantly, making Joe wince a bit.

"Santana, I don't want any issues between you and Joe," Sam started off. "His parents taught him that stuff when he was homeschooled. He didn't mean any harm to you."

"Sam, that's what they all say about this Bible thumper, understand that," Santana laughed, taking a couple steps towards the boys. Joe was so nervous; he started backing away from the bitchy Cheerio. "They expect him to be the sweetest guy in the entire school since he was born Christian and taught the ways of it by his parents, and whatever bullshit you wanna throw at me about him." Santana glanced from Sam to Joe and back. "But you can't _judge a book by its cover_, you see. In reality, he's a betraying, sorry little bastard."

"Santana!" Sam exclaimed. Joe was just standing two steps away, holding onto the strap of his messenger bag and biting down on his bottom lip. "He's only been here for a few days; you don't know anything about him. And all he wants to do is be friends with the rest of us."

"And by _us_, do you mean the Adams and Eves?" Santana questioned sarcastically. "Obviously he would be seen with people like the Rainbow Twins. Or even Britt and I, for that matter." She took a pause. "Which reminds me, why the hell _are_ we here anyway, Britt? As you can see, little Joey here is catching a severe case of homophobia with _us_ standing around."

Sam gritted his teeth together at the sound of Santana's rude words. He was surprised people like Brittany could even put up with her. "Leave Joe alone, okay? He never did anything wrong, and you're only making it worse."

"It's bad enough that I just came out of the closet this year, and having to deal with Frankenteen half-ruining my reputation as Head Bitch in Charge, along with some stupid-ass pizza shop owner running a commercial about me for that offensive campaign from earlier in the year," Santana explained, "but now I have to deal with people who can't accept gays? I've been through that bullshit with my abuela before; I will _not_ relive it again."

"Santana, you don't understand –"

"Oh, I understand. The world can be so careless and cruel, and even the so-called _good ones_ just have to go along with it," Santana interrupted, and she stepped up towards Joe and grabbed the shoulder of his cardigan. "And you, Teen Jesus, take this as a warning. People cross me like the Brooklyn Bridge –"

"Wanky," Brittany muttered.

"I don't like it when people cross me," Santana whispered to Joe, nearly terrifying him. "I _will_ cut a bitch, and I'm not even afraid or sorry for saying so. Is that clear?" She realized within three seconds that Joe hadn't said anything since he was fearing the lesbian Cheerio. "Answer me!"

Shivering and stuttering at the same time, Joe spoke up nervously. "Y-yes, ma'am." He could literally feel Santana's nails dig into his shoulder, and it was making him feel uncomfortable.

That famous bitch smirk came across Santana's face, and she let go of Joe to make her way towards Brittany, linking arms with the tall blonde girl and heading over to the girls' locker room, leaving Joe and Sam standing there in the hallway. Sam turned to his right, and noticed the scared look on Joe's face. It's like he saw either _The Texas Chainsaw Massacre_ or _A Nightmare on Elm Street_ (or both), and pled to never watch horror movies ever again.

"Don't pay attention to her, Joe," Sam spoke up, putting his hand on Joe's left shoulder. "Santana's not going to do anything." He noticed that the dreadlocked teen was feeling a bit better, but not as much now that he had to image of Santana's evil smile in his vision.

"Can we talk about anything else?" Joe asked nervously, following Sam down the hallway. "Talking about homophobia makes me uncomfortable."

"Well, not as much, though," Sam explained. "I have to head to football practice right now. You can come with, if you want. And we still need to find more members for our new glee club, so we could work on that as well."

"Okay…" Joe replied, a bit uneasy. "But who else is going to join us?"

* * *

Out on the football field, Joe and Sam got Sam's gear out to the bleachers and set them to the side as Sam was preparing to get out there with some of the other guys in football jerseys running down the track. As they were sitting on the side, their eyes glanced up at a huddle of girls in red, white, and black cheerleading uniforms, performing a routine they had practiced for the past few weeks.

And as usual, Sue Sylvester, their cheerleading coach, always had to be the harshest bulldog out of the whole pack. "Come on, ladies! Don't be dead branches! I wanna see _action_! Hit it!"

_**Santana with Kitty and the Cheerios  
**__L-U-V Madonna  
__Y-O-U you wanna_

The girls were in a circular huddle at first; but then they turned around facing the exterior of their circle and shook the pompons in their hands. Sam and Joe from afar could notice Santana and the freshman Cheerio, Kitty Wilde facing Sue, standing taller than the other Cheerios, who had knelt down on the soft grass. Another Cheerio, presumably Brittany, was standing behind the two with her hands on her hips.

Once it got to Brittany's solo part, Santana and Kitty twirled around a bit, and stepped to the side, allowing Brittany to strut forward.

_**Brittany  
**__I see you coming and I don't wanna know your name_

_**Santana with Kitty and the Cheerios  
**__L-U-V Madonna_

_**Brittany  
**__I see you coming and you're gonna have to change the game_

_**Santana with Kitty and the Cheerios  
**__Y-O-U you wanna_

Brittany had stopped walking at one point, and started shaking her hips and waving her pompons in the air, her skirt swishing every which way and showing off her thighs and slender legs. The other Cheerios had done the same.

_**Brittany  
**__Would you like to try?  
__Give me a reason why  
__Give me all that you got  
__Maybe you'll do fine  
__As long as you don't lie to me  
__And pretend to be what you're not_

Brittany had ran backwards a bit, and threw her pompons in the grass, placing her fisted hands on her hips again. The other Cheerios, sans Santana and Kitty, danced a bit in a circle around Brittany. Santana and Kitty had been standing behind Brittany with their hands on their hips, bending their legs while standing in place.

Over by the bleachers, Sam and Joe continued to watch the show the girls were putting on, with the help of some male cheerleaders in the mix. "Do you think we could ask one of them?" Joe questioned Sam, blocking the sun out of his eyes.

"Are you kidding me?" Sam asked, turning towards Teen Jesus. "Those girls are the most popular students in the school. There's no way they're gonna join us."

_**Brittany  
**__Don't play the stupid game  
_'_Cause I'm a different kind of girl  
__Every record sounds the same  
__You gotta step into my world_

_**Brittany and Santana with Kitty and the Cheerios  
**__Give me all your love and give me your love  
__Give me all your love today_

Sue wandered around with one hand on her hip, and one holding onto a megaphone. As she observed the scene before her, she noticed a blonde cheerleader almost trip once the Cheerios had gotten into some mini pyramids and a little air-kick action. She rose the microphone up to her mouth and started calling to her. "Samantha, keep up! Keep _up_!"

_**Brittany and Santana with Kitty and the Cheerios  
**__Give me all your love and give me your love  
__Let's forget about time  
__And dance our lives away_

"Let's go, Santana! Let's go!" Sue called again, and all of the Cheerios had jumped in the air and onto their knees, making a pathway for Santana to walk through.

_**Santana  
**__Give me all your love boy  
__You could be my boy, you could be my boy toy  
__In the nick of time I could say a sicker rhyme  
_'_Cause it's time for a change like a nickel and a dime  
__I'm Roman, I'm a barbarian, I'm Conan  
__You were sleeping on me, you were dozin'  
__Now move, I'm going in!_

_**Brittany with Santana  
**__You have all the L-U-V  
__I gave you everything you need (__**Santana**__: Now move!)  
__Now it's up to y-o-u  
__Are you the one, shall we proceed?_

Once Santana was done with her solo, and the girls had finished with a series of flips and mini pyramids, all of the Cheerios were all in a line facing Sue. One of the girls in the front was a girl with dark hair, and she was very perky. She had her infamous bitch smirk on her face, and her hands on her hips.

"Adriana!" Sue called to the girl in the front of the line, "show me what you got!"

_**Adriana  
**__Sw-sw-swag shh  
__Glad no one gave you this  
__Supersonic bionic, uranium hit  
__So I break 'em off, tricks  
__Let's pray that it sticks  
__I'ma say this once, yeah I don't give an ish_

As the Cheerio, identified as Adriana, started singing her solo part, the Cheerios behind her waved their pompons in the air and twirled their way out of the circle, standing in three rows and in windows. They would fist pump once and toss their arm back, doing one arm at a time, while Adriana was singing. As they watched from the sidelines, Sam and Joe seemed impressed with the sound of her voice.

Once it got to another bridge in the song, all of the girls were in three straight lines, with Brittany standing in the center in the second row. Santana and Kitty were by her sides, and Adriana was standing in front of her. The blonde girl, identified as Samantha, was standing behind Brittany.

_**Brittany  
**__Don't play the stupid game  
_'_Cause I'm a different kind of girl  
__Every record sounds the same  
__You gotta step into my world_

All of the girls were inching their shoulders up slowly and raising one of their hands up to their chests at a time. Then before it got to the chorus, the girls had their hands in the air, shimmying and allowing the flaps of their skirts to move about. Then they continued on with some jump splits and a couple of hops here and there.

_**Brittany and Santana with Kitty and the Cheerios  
**__Give me all your love and give me your love_

_**Santana, Kitty, and Adriana with the Cheerios  
**__L-U-V Madonna_

_**Brittany and Santana with Kitty and the Cheerios  
**__Give me all your love and give me your love_

_**Santana, Kitty, and Adriana with the Cheerios  
**__Y-O-U you wanna_

_**Brittany and Santana with Kitty and the Cheerios  
**__Give me all your love and give me your love  
__Give me all your love today  
__Give me all your love and give me your love  
__Let's forget about time  
__And dance our lives away_

Once they were through, the girls had assembled into a pyramid, with the male cheerleaders helping some of the girls hold a Cheerio up. Brittany was standing front and center with her arms in the air, the sweat falling down her face, and Santana and Kitty had knelt down by her sides, shaking the pompons in their hands. Adriana had been held up in the center large pyramid, while Samantha was on the mini pyramid to her left. The girls were extremely exhausted, and they felt like they did a good job.

Sue, however and as always, was unimpressed. "You think this is hard? Try surfboarding in the Atlantic Ocean with Lance Bass; _that's_ hard!" she called through the megaphone. Everyone's jaws had dropped at the sound of Sue's words. "We have Sectionals soon, ladies! Madonna is giving herself a concussion down somewhere in her grave. Hit the showers!"

The Cheerios, moaning and complaining about how hot it was outside, started heading towards their stuff near the sidelines. Sam and Joe, still watching the scene before them, furrowed their eyes as the cheerleaders walked away.

"Did she really think it was bad?" Joe asked Sam. "I thought they were very good."

"That could be Sue's hormones getting the better of her or something," Sam explained. "I heard rumors about her having a bun in the oven, and it might screw things up around here. You'll never know." Sam started grabbing his football helmet, and stood up from where he sat. "See you after practice, Joe." And with that, the blonde made his way to the other side of the field where the boys were getting ready to go over maneuvers.

Joe was now sitting on his own, not really sure on what to do. He noticed one of the Cheerios, Kitty, grabbing her things and wiping her face with a white towel. He didn't really hear her voice that much when the girls were performing; but she was just as good as everyone else. Maybe she could be in the new glee club.

As bravely as possible, avoiding Brittany and Santana by the gate having a conversation about lady kisses and date nights, Joe got up from his seat and walked over to Kitty. Adriana and Samantha were there, too, packing their white tennis shoes in their bags and putting on some black and purple Converse sneakers, and some brown boots, respectively. "Um, hey," the dreadlocked boy spoke.

The first Joe got her attention from was Kitty. Her ponytail swung around and hit her neck when she turned to see Joe standing beside her. A cringe-worthy facial expression showed up on her face. "Who the hell are you?" she asked, looking up and down at Joe's attire. According to the freshman Cheerio, Joe's choice of clothing was probably the worst she's ever seen.

"Oh, I'm Joe," Teen Jesus answered, "and I wanted to let you know that there are spots open if you want to join the glee club –"

"Oh God, a _glee_ nerd?" Kitty asked, disgusted. "Are you trying to get me killed or something?"

Joe was taken aback by Kitty's response. Then again, Sam had warned him before that the glee club was full of the biggest losers in the whole school. Hell, probably even more than the AV club and the science club combined. Joe could hear himself stutter as he looked the freshman girl in her eyes.

"I – I, no," Joe explained nervously. "This isn't for New Directions; it's for a new glee club made for people who get sidelined in the old club, but we need about seven more people, and we can't keep pulling people from New Directions."

"Oh great, just my luck," Kitty complained. "Not only it's a _glee_ club full of losers, but it's a glee club made of the biggest losers out of the original group of losers." That girl said _losers_ so many times; Joe almost couldn't keep up. "Let me give you a reality check. I, a Cheerio, wouldn't dare to offer my services as a glee club member for you, a loser. I have better things to do on my schedule than to be put up with a bunch of wannabe outsiders in a crappy room singing songs from 1957."

"All of them are not that old…" Joe said with a shrug.

"Doesn't matter; it would still be a huge crap fest for me," Kitty replied coldly. "Sorry…but I ain't sorry." The blonde, bitchy freshman gathered her things and marched from the bleachers back to the school with Brittany and Santana, leaving Joe just standing there, defeated.

Adriana and Samantha had been standing there with their hands on their hips, looking at a disappointed Joe from a distance. The two girls looked at each other as if they were reading each other's minds, and grew a smirk on their faces, linking arms and walking over to Teen Jesus.

"Well, how do you do, stranger?" Samantha asked slyly.

Joe's head lifted suddenly at the sound of Samantha's voice. "Um…fine, I guess."

Samantha made a remorseful pouty face, sticking her lip out as she reached to touch Joe's face. "Aw, don't be sad. Did you find out your dog ran away, or did you want a shot with Bitchy Betty just a few seconds ago, but then she fucked up with your dreams with the cold reality?" the blonde asked him.

Joe cocked an eyebrow in her direction. "I don't have any pets," he answered, "and I'm fine without a girlfriend."

It was Adriana's turn to inch an eyebrow on her forehead. "You're _fine_ without a girlfriend?" she asked, surprised. "No, baby, you're _fine_ with a bit of that sweater open, and that smile on your face." Surprisingly, this made Joe giggle a bit. "But just so you would know, though, you don't wanna keep trying to convince her to do anything."

This made Joe frown a bit. "Why?"

"Because she's ignorant," Samantha explained. "Like, people give her offers and stuff, trying to get her to do the right thing –"

"Or the _wrong_ thing," Adriana added with a shrug.

"But she acts as if she doesn't want it," Samantha continued. The blonde shrugged. "Look, I think it's cool that you and a couple of your other friends want to form a new group and get other people's attention. I don't mind at all. That Kitty girl, though, she's not worth it."

Joe didn't think he would learn such things about this freshman girl. He wasn't so quick to judge the Cheerios or anything since the only Cheerios he knew since he got here were Santana and Brittany (though he did hear a couple of things about Quinn being on the team sometime ago). But were they all mean like Samantha and Adriana had been saying? Well, Quinn was a Cheerio sometime before this point in life, and she doesn't seem mean. And Brittany, although dating Santana Lopez, was as bright as the sun. Joe almost didn't believe it.

With that, Adriana and Samantha grabbed their things and started following the other Cheerios to the locker room. While Samantha applied some mango-flavored lip gloss on her lips, Adriana continued walking with her, deep in thought. She looked a bit confused.

"I thought that guy back there was actually nice," Adriana admitted with a shrug. "He's just about as cute as my older cousin, who seems to be a dick most of the time."

"_Seems_ to be?" Samantha asked, perplexed.

"I only see him on the holidays," Adriana clarified, earning an understood nod from Samantha.

"I can care less, honestly," Samantha replied shamelessly. "According to the school, he's the biggest outcast in McKinley. And as we all know, Kitty is one of the biggest wannabes." The blonde scoffed. "I swear, every time she mentions Quinn Fabray during class, I wanna stuff a sock in her mouth."

"More so every time she mentions wanting to _be_ Quinn Fabray, you mean…" Adriana added.

"Oh, my God. Yes!" Samantha agreed. "She is nothing like Quinn, despite the blondness and perkiness. Quinn is a legend and an idol to every girl in this school, and Kitty is just a tagalong print copy."

Adriana snickered. "How much you wanna bet that she'll join that club that boy is a part of? Would you say ten bucks or something?"

"As petty and fucking bossy as she is, perhaps a dime," Samantha responded, making the black-haired Cheerio laugh a bit. The two girls took a pause, both in their conversation and in their walk towards the entrance to the school, because Samantha was now the one who was deep in thought about something.

Samantha, truthfully, didn't care for either Kitty or Joe, for that matter. She was literally taught not to pay any attention to Teen Jesus, and Kitty was just somewhat of a _teacher's pet_ when it came to Quinn. And she was positive that there were other Cheerios on the squad, sans Brittany and Santana, thought negatively towards the freshman blonde as well. _That girl is no better than anyone else_, Samantha thought. Hell, even Quinn wasn't the perfect, all-American girl; she had flaws in her life, too.

At that moment, Samantha started having a prominent idea. She grabbed Adriana's arm and led her into the school. "I have an idea. Come on. It'll be funny."

* * *

Kitty was weak before her refreshing shower; but now she felt a little bit better now that she wasn't stuck in sweat and heat anymore. The freshman blonde made her way to her locker in the girls' locker room and grabbed her purse and backpack, when Adriana came over to lean against her locker to converse with her. "You're so uptight sometimes, aren't you?"

Once the locker door slammed closed, Kitty deadpanned in Adriana's direction. "What in God's name are you talking about?" she asked.

"You know what I'm talking about," Adriana explained. "That sweet boy at the bleachers? The whole glee club talk thingy? Why do you have to be so tense about it?"

"I'm pretty sure you heard the whole conversation, bitch," Kitty replied coldly. "I can't be seen with losers, especially a homophobic, preachy Jesus-loving homeless guy with an interest in singing with other losers. Besides, the glee club is one of the lamest clubs in the whole school. What would I look like even signing up for that?"

"How the hell would you even know about the glee club if you haven't even joined one in your life?" Samantha asked, walking towards the two Cheerio girls. "You know nothing, Kitty. It could be interesting, for all you know."

"This whole school hates the glee club," Kitty retorted. "I don't _need_ to be in it to know the facts."

"Oh, shut the hell up with your damn fallacies," Samantha dismissed. This made Kitty feel heated in a way. She frowned and balled her fists up, wanting to punch Samantha in the nose. She probably couldn't, though, since they were on school grounds, but if she had the right to…

"Twenty-dollar offer." Samantha added with her hands on her hips. "If you turn it down, I'll force Sylvester to drop you to the bottom of the pyramid. You wanted to be a captain or something, right? Well, you're gonna have to work for it."

Kitty furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, while Samantha smirked in her direction. _Ugh, that bitch is pure evil._

* * *

**Author's Note**: Okay, that's the end of chapter eleven. What did you guys think? It didn't take that long for me to continue with this chapter. Kinda easy for me, I guess. Well, I hope you're psyched about the next chapter (well, you're probably not, but that's okay). Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and happy reading!

**Featured Songs**:  
"Give Me All Your Luvin'" by Madonna feat. Nicki Minaj and MIA. Sung by Brittany, Santana, and Adriana with Kitty and the Cheerios


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note**: Hello, guys. I am back with another chapter of _Many Colors_, and I'm so excited to present it just as much as I am writing the overall story and seeing you guys' reactions. I forgot to mention in the last author's note that on Tumblr, I had won an award for _Best Joe Writer_ for my fan fiction, _Teach Me How to Love_. I wasn't expecting that, and I just wanted to say thank you for the people who voted for me. It was an honor. If I could, I would've surprised you guys with a new chapter, but a lot has been going on here. Maybe on a free day, I can work on it some more. I haven't forgotten about it, I promise.

And without further ado, I shall present chapter twelve (good God, we made it this far, didn't we?) Happy reading!

**Featured Pairings**: texting!Sugartie (Sugar/Artie), unrequited!Sugary (Sugar/Rory), minor!Brittana (Brittany/Santana), Klaine (Kurt/Blaine), minor!Finchel (Finn/Rachel)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything related to _Glee_. All of the rights to the show go to Ryan Murphy and Co., and Twentieth Century Fox.

* * *

**Many Colors  
**Chapter Twelve

* * *

Sugar finally got out of fifth period and was getting ready to head to her lunch period. Somewhere during transition, she was having a conversation with Artie on her phone. She was so engaged into the conversation; she practically ignored some of the adults walking past and telling her to put her phone away. If she could, Sugar would just snort and tell them how jealous they were being since they were so unfortunate to have this type of technology when they were younger (not Aspergers, of course).

Once the spoiled, rich girl made it to her locker, she opened the locker door to retrieve some stuff while conversing with Artie at the same time.

**From**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 30 12:33 p.m.)  
_Listening to Eminem in sixth period, yo._

**To**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 30 12:33 p.m.)  
_You listen to candy? Strange._

**From**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 30 12:34 p.m.)  
_-Judging Sugar mentally-_

**To**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 30 12:34 p.m.)  
_LOL, I'm kidding, Artie. Maybe when the new glee club comes together, we can hear one of his songs. But I s2g, they better not ruin any of them, especially Love the Way You Lie._

**From**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 30 12:35 p.m.)  
_Who the hell is gonna ruin Eminem?_

**To**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 30 12:35 p.m.)  
_Not that Jonathan guy from the other day, hopefully not._

**From**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 30 12:36 p.m.)  
_Don't bet on him coming back any time soon (we literally had to fan Tina after his performance, and Holly was uncomfortable)._

**To**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 30 12:36 p.m.)  
_Sounded like you were just being jealous._

**From**: Artie Abrams (Nov. 30 12:36 p.m.)  
_Where did you get that idea from?_

The strawberry blonde girl smirked to herself as she read Artie's last text. Poor broken young man.

"Sugar?" the sophomore girl heard a thick Irish accent from behind her. She whirled around to find Rory standing behind her, wearing the usual green to go with his clothing. _I swear, is that the only color in his closet? Does he wear orange at all?_ The Motta's Pianos heiress questioned in the back of her mind. "Haven't seen you there in the glee club for a bit." Rory continued.

Sugar just shrugged. "I've been too busy to keep up with the dirty dancers in there while Finn and Rachel stood front and center," she admitted, closing her locker. "Besides, I had an appointment to check out my hair, and I've gone out with some friends."

The two walked down the hall and commenced with the conversation. "Maybe we could hang out together sometime. I'm free after Mass, if you want."

"Sorry. No can do. Since I'll basically be out of the house all day Saturday, I need at least a day this week to rest. My comforter in my room looks very tempting to lay on right now."

Rory nodded, and he was starting to reflect back to the bed sitting in his old home. It was a bed fit for a small king – well, a _prince_ – with white and green sheets and pillows on them. Whenever he would come home from school or church with his father, he would fall on that thing, and nothing would hurt anymore. It was like laying on clouds in heaven, or skydiving over the world's biggest cotton candy.

God, now he was missing home period. He enjoyed staying in Brittany's house and sleeping in the guest bed that her mother had offered; however, it just wasn't the same.

"You're telling me," he finally spoke up to Sugar, realizing it had been about five seconds and he hadn't said anything.

"That _sorry_ son of a bitch!"

Sugar and Rory immediately stopped in their tracks at the sound of Kurt Hummel's raged voice from behind them. The porcelain-skinned fellow barged past the two sophomore students and made his way towards the choir room door where Rachel, Finn, and Blaine had been standing. Kurt had his cell phone out, looking through some sort of text, getting even more frustrated with every word.

"Oh-em-geezus!" Sugar exclaimed, grabbing Rory's arm and pulling him towards that direction. "Total drama-mama island!"

Once Sugar and Rory made it close to that area, they saw an outraged Kurt barking at Blaine about the Dalton Academy Warblers stealing New Directions' set list for Regionals, and the former Dalton kid bit his bottom lip, feeling guilty about something. Rachel was just standing there with her jaw dropped in disbelief. Finn's eyes furrowed with sudden anger at the news. It looked as if he was eyeing a hockey jock and wanting to punch him in the guts or something.

"You can't be serious, right?" Finn asked, still raged about what he just heard.

"I can't believe this is happening," Rachel managed to let out breathlessly.

"This is just as serious as Vocal Adrenaline's lead female singer getting sent to a fucking _crack house_," Kurt gritted his teeth together, typing furiously on his phone.

"That was for the good of the team," Rachel pointed out. "This right here is _stealing_!"

"Rachel, we have no time for this petty tomfoolery," Kurt barked back.

"Dude, what the hell is going on?" Puck asked once he made his way over to the huddle, followed by Mercedes and Quinn.

"The Warblers stole Michael Jackson from us!" Rachel accused.

"What the hell?" Puck asked, just as pissed as Finn was. "How was that possible?"

As shamefully as he was, Blaine lifted a hand and looked around at the shocked and mad facial expressions of his fellow New Directions members. "I…may have said a couple of things to Sebastian while I had gone out to the Lima Bean –"

"Blaine, you did what?!" Finn exclaimed.

Puck tossed his arms in the air effortlessly, and turned towards the girls standing behind them. "We should've known that this would happen. He told his former gang what they were up to. He's like a modern-day eggs Benedict!" Mercedes just looked down, and Quinn rolled her eyes at Puck's analogy.

Sugar leaned towards Rory and whispered to him as the conversation continued. "Looks like the not-so-perfect Pink Panther tied himself in a knot with this one," she teased, although Rory wasn't getting the point of what she said.

All of a sudden, both of the sophomores heard rubber footsteps on the floor from behind them, and noticed Brittany and Santana walk in on the spot. "Oh, hey there, Elf and Sugar-Plum Fake Head," Santana spoke up to the two of them. "No one expected for you two to be here." The bitchy Latina shoved the two away and joined the seniors and Blaine, while Brittany followed her while giving her a disheartened look after the remarks she gave Sugar and Rory.

"This is an absolute outrage!" Rachel yelled. "I've already missed one Sectionals; I am _not_ going to go through more hell that the Warblers, of all people, are putting me through. And let's not forget my resume for when I get into NYADA. Who knows what'll happen to that?"

Santana furrowed her eyebrows at the shorter girl. "Hold the hell on, Midget Berry. What are you talking about?"

"Sebastian found out about our set list for Regionals from Blaine," Kurt explained, trying to calm his temper down while upset at both Blaine and the Warblers at the same time. "Now, the Warblers are going to use Michael Jackson songs for Regionals. They'll make it look like we were copying off of them."

Suddenly steamed, Santana crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I knew that little bitchlet was up to no good," she responded. "The moment I see his rat ass on the spot, I'm gonna wipe the floor with him with a bit of some Lima Heights mentality."

"Woah, guys!" Mr. Schue spoke up as soon as he made it over to the huddle. "I know this looks bad now, but there's no way we can fight this. We can always come up with a new set list –"

This had everyone in the huddle, sans Rory and Sugar, rambling on and getting angered with Mr. Schue's idea. Quinn was rubbing her head, trying to get rid of the growing headache she was having. Rachel's forehead fell on Finn's arm as the small girl dramatically groaned in defeat. Santana even ranted with a bit of some Spanish that no one else could understand (yes, not even Mr. Schue, the Spanish teacher himself).

Sugar had her arms folded in front of her chest, nodding slowly at the commotion. "At least our club doesn't have to worry about that…" she mumbled under her breath.

"What did you say there?" the Irish-exchange student asked, turning his head towards the spoiled brat.

Startled and a bit frantic on the inside, Sugar stuttered a bit before saying, "Nothing. Those Warblers are gonna pay. Just you wait."

Too bad she wasn't going to be there to see it.

* * *

"Sweet mother of all gods, guys!" Sugar exclaimed to the former New Directions members (well, Artie still wasn't official just yet) as she entered the Spanish classroom later that day with her arms waving in the air. Tina and Artie were sitting at one table trying to come up with more options for finding new members of the glee club, and Sam was using Joe's dreads as jump ropes for no apparent reason while the Christian boy read his pocket-sized Bible leisurely. "New Directions are in trou-ble!" she sang out loud.

"What happened, Sugar?" Tina asked, suddenly looking up from the paper Artie had been writing on.

"The war bubbles had found out about New Directions' set list –"

"Don't you mean the _Warblers_?" Sam asked, confused.

"Whatevs, same thing." Sugar dismissed. "Anyways, they found out the MJ set list from Anderson, and now there's a serious battle of the glee clubs going on."

Joe's jaw dropped, and his face was full of remorse. "That's awful."

"Oh _hell_ to P. Diddy no!" Artie exclaimed with his eyebrows furrowed and one of his arms tossed. "Had I stayed with New Directions any longer, and I would have to suffer through not singing songs sung by my _idol_? Wheels ain't having that!" He ended his statement with a snap of his fingers.

"You kinda still _are_ in New Directions, though…" Sam pointed out.

Artie whirled around and found the blonde, giving him a stare. "Excuse you?"

"What's a _P. Diddy_?" Joe asked randomly, looking around as if he was the only one trying to figure that out.

"It's a brand of liquor. Look it up," Sugar retorted sarcastically, but had Joe taken aback at the same time.

"Don't worry, Artie," Tina spoke up to the paraplegic junior boy, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You're with our group now; and once we get the ball rolling, you won't have to worry about not performing Michael at a competition." Artie was at ease a little bit, but he was a bit bitter as well on the inside. "And speaking of _getting the ball rolling_, we still need to find seven more members for our glee club."

"We already auditioned about fifteen people so far," Sam spoke up, dropping Joe's dreads back at his side and walking over to the Asian beauty. "And there's no point in asking the popular kids, because all they'll do is turn us down, and get other people to do the same."

"And how are you, Mr. Know It All, supposed to know that?" All five students heard a voice at the front door. They all turned towards the door, and found Kitty Wilde standing there, leaning against the wall clutching onto a red and black binder, and keeping one of her hands on her hips. No one made a sound after that since all eyes were focused on the freshman Cheerio.

"Oh shit, it's a cheerleader," Artie spoke up, nearly terrified.

"What's the big deal? Santana and Brittany are cheerleaders, and they're in New Directions," Sugar spoke up with a shrug.

"That's because they're the so-called _popular_ type of losers," Kitty responded, walking further in the room. "All of you in this room, and maybe even others in that stinkin' choir room down the halls somewhere, are still considered the biggest outcasts in the school. Sue literally makes beanie dolls that look like you, and sticks staples and pins in those things."

Tina's eyes widened at that fact. "Wait, what?"

"I don't know; she told me that during her lunch time at one point," Kitty explained with a shrug.

"Well, if we're losers to you," Sam started, "then why are you even here?"

There had been a three-second silence before the blonde freshman sighed reluctantly. "If you imbeciles must know," she spoke up, "I could lose my chance to be on top of the Cheerios pyramid at some point if I don't attempt joining this so-called new glee club that you guys are planning." She paused for a moment, having something on her mind as she smoothed out her curly Cheerios ponytail. "And hey, there's a pair of silver and red earrings at the mall that are calling my name –"

"So, you're basically doing this for the money?" Tina asked, unimpressed.

"Then again, who _wouldn't_ want to do it for the money?" Sugar asked. "Just sayin'."

Kitty's eyes went from the Aspergers-diagnosed girl to Teen Jesus towards her left, and she had a stern look on her face that had Joe tense up a bit. "Also, I realized just today that Jesus' Little Creeper had been getting a peek of us girls out on the field practicing today." She paused and shrugged. "I'd never expect to actually be in here with the rest of you dead beats, but…"

"Okay, so are you going to perform your audition song or what…?" Artie asked, deadpanning and rolling his eyes.

"Ask Medusa what he thinks," Kitty replied. "He's probably replaying the whole scene over and over again in his brain right now." She turned towards Joe and cocked an eyebrow at him. "So then, Joe what's-your-face, wanna tell them the best part? Was it when the girls were splitting up like banana peels, or when Dirty Dancer had her goodies showing under the flaps of her –"

"Okay, okay. We're not going to have any more of this," Tina spoke up, rubbing her forehead. "If you're not going to perform anything for us, or even be nice to the people already in the group, I'm going to ask you to leave."

"I don't take demands, Michelle Kwan; I _make_ them," Kitty corrected.

"Demand Jesus for a better attitude, for once," Sam mumbled under his breath, which made the freshman whirl around with her ponytail hitting her face, and her jaw dropping down to her neck.

"Day-um," Sugar instigated. Artie gave Sam and Kitty some disapproving looks, and Joe slumped in his chair a bit, clutching to his pocket-sized Bible and making the symbol of a cross on his chest. No one knew about Tina, but she was getting a bit frustrated. So frustrated that she ended up doing this.

"Oh, my God. You guys, just stop. Look, we're already facing issues with this whole new group thing, and we haven't even started working on set lists or anything for an upcoming competition. It's bad enough when we have to deal with finding seven more members at the moment; but having to deal with a troll taking away time we need to audition more people? We need to get a move-on, and we have no time to waste." There was a five-second silence, and the Asian girl turned to the bitchy Cheerio. "And you…you're going to have to leave."

At that moment, everyone noticed Kitty hold her hands up in surrender and even stutter a bit. "W-wait!" she exclaimed, and everyone else looked at her skeptically. Tina seemed to be the most confused. _What the hell is she trying to say now?_ She thought.

"There's another reason why I decided to come here," Kitty admitted, putting one of her free hands inside the pocket of the varsity jacket that matched with her Cheerios uniform. "Someone today had reminded me that I never even been in a glee club before, and I realized that they were right. I was too quick to judge, though I have been seeing what you guys have gotten into earlier this year, and I wasn't impressed at all –"

"Oh, yawn. Moving on." Sugar interrupted rudely, making Kitty stare at her sternly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the Cheerio spoke up, "are you bored or something?"

Sugar rolled her eyes while looking at her nails. "I might be." Sam took a hold on Sugar's arm, telling her that they should listen to what she had to say, and glanced back up at the young blonde.

Kitty sighed. "So…about twenty minutes ago – no literally, twenty minutes ago – I pondered over the decision about joining this club to see what you guys were made of. Yes, I'm still looking out for my reputation as well; so don't expect me to be seen with all of you through the hallways of the school or anything. I've been doing pretty well so far with my rep, and I have no desire to destroy it."

"Kinda hard to believe that when you're joining a group full of the biggest losers from another group of losers that happen to be more popular than us," Artie spoke up with another eye-roll, and Tina nudged him in the arm, sending him a sharp pain through his veins.

"Not to worry," Kitty told Tina with a shrug. "I kinda said the same thing to him." She pointed towards Joe, who had been silent for the past five minutes and paying attention to what was going on.

"You do realize that you're going to have to sacrifice your so-called _reputation_ once you join this club, right?" Tina questioned Kitty. "If you don't join us, like you said, you'll be forced to stay at the bottom of the pyramid. Still don't know why…"

"I don't, either, really." Kitty replied.

"And if you _do_ join our group, then you'll be stick with the biggest outcasts in the school who get sidelined and neglected by the other group of biggest losers. So either way, you have no choice."

Kitty nearly slapped herself mentally once she heard that. Tina was right, though. Kitty wasn't going to lose any damn bet; but at the same time, she wasn't sure if she would get along well with these other students in the room. She never hung out with anyone outside of the cheerleader clique before. _Ugh, this is going to be tough_, Kitty complained in the back of her mind.

"Think of it this way, though," Tina continued, "if we can make it to Sectionals, Regionals, and eventually Nationals, and win ourselves some trophies and that first-place pride, then we might not be the biggest losers in the whole school, and we could actually get respect for what we do around here. So all hope in keeping a good reputation is not lost."

It didn't take that long for the blonde Cheerio to think about it. She just nodded in Tina's direction. "I can settle for that," she thought aloud.

"Alright then, um…"

"Kitty. Kitty Wilde."

"Well, Kitty," Tina spoke respectfully, "welcome to our new glee club." A round of applause from Sam, Sugar, Joe, and Artie came about, and Kitty couldn't believe how welcome she was feeling. Honestly, she didn't know why she got upset about people mentioning the glee club to her in the first place. She probably got used to the rumors and stuff going around her having to do with the glee club being lamer than the special-ed students. Come to think of it, these guys weren't that bad at all.

"Awesome, now we only need six more members," Artie announced, writing something on the sheet of paper before him.

"That's still a long way to go, though," Joe spoke up, a bit worried.

"Not as long as it was before," Sam added.

"Well yeah, but how are we supposed to gather up the other six?" Sugar questioned everyone in the room. "We don't know anyone else who could participate with us."

This left Tina sitting there, pondering over some possible ideas. She could easily remember at the beginning of the school year when she took part of a performance Rachel, Santana, and Brittany put on for the other students in McKinley. Unfortunately, none of the students had the beat to join in with New Directions' rendition of The Go Go's _We Got the Beat_, which resulted into a horrendous food fight. God, that purple piano Mr. Schue received from Sugar's father had gotten destroyed. Tina couldn't even imagine what Mr. Schue had to pay to get that thing rented and cleaned.

Suddenly, the Asian beauty came up with an idea. The symbolic, invisible light bulb over her hear shone brighter than any of Rachel Berry's gold-star stickers. "Duet week." This left everyone else confused. "We perform duets all week to bring in new members for our glee club."

"W-wait, you want us to _split up_ and go through the torture of slushie facials and food fights?!" Sugar exclaimed, worried and grabbing onto Joe, who almost jumped out of his skin at Sugar's sudden action. "We're going to be _killed_, damn it!"

"And…the trouble commences before it even starts…" Kitty muttered under her breath, hiding her face with her hand.

"Look, guys, hear me out on this," Tina explained, and everyone gathered around Tina to hear her idea. "We'll just perform one duet at a time, and then we can just switch partners once everyone has performed with their original partner. Kind of like the duets competition we had with Mr. Schue, Artie and Sam, excluding the Breadstix prize." Sugar pouted at that comment, while Joe rubbed her back and smirked playfully at the same time. "And afterwards, we could even have a showcase group number will all of us singing, including the new members that joined so far."

Everyone seemed to agree with this idea from the looks of their nodding. "I could go for that," Artie spoke.

"It's better than nothing at all," Sugar added.

With an official head nod, Tina started assigning the duets for the first day. "Okay, so Sam and Artie, you two could do a duet together," she declared, looking at both boys as they high-fived each other. She turned towards Teen Jesus. "Joe, you and I could be a pair." The dreadlocked teen nodded and smiled at that suggestion. "And that would leave Sugar and Kitty."

Sugar had her hands on her hips, nodding at that duet choice. However, Kitty seemed to be against it. "Um, no way," she responded. "This girl can't even _sing_. Santana told me once that she was trying to attempt at a glee club audition gone wrong with some song from a boring sixties musical."

The spoiled, strawberry-blonde girl tossed her hair, almost in Kitty's face, and folded her arms. "I don't care what anyone says; I worked that song like a hooker pole."

Kitty huffed a bit. "The ones that have customers paying ten cents per dance."

"Enough, Kitty." Tina broke the tension between the two girls, and Kitty just rolled her eyes and sighed. "And you know what? This is what the glee club is supposed to be doing. We help aspiring singers be better than they were before. Train them to be the best."

"Unlike New Directions," Sugar added coldly. "The Troubletones could get me medicine and gin, or whatever else I needed compared to Lame-O Explosion. Not Aspergers."

Tina winced a bit at that remark Sugar gave, although it was a bit true. Mr. Schue mentioned at some point during glee club lessons that no one in the group should be left behind or left out. However, no one bothered to be a close friend to Sugar or even give her any singing lessons privately. Tina could remember when she was sitting in the back row of that choir room with Kurt and Santana, and all she could hear were petty jokes about how she needed a bucket to carry a tune. Poor Sugar.

Realizing that she had been stuck with her thoughts for the past twenty seconds, Tina shook her head and went back into focus. "Okay, guys. We'll perform the duets this week and next week, starting Thursday." Everyone else made a mental note to meet with each other and prepare something to perform. "Look, we're gaining progress already, guys! Are you excited?"

"Well, duh!" Sugar exclaimed, fist-pumping in the air.

"Our new glee club's gonna blow this piece!" Artie called, reaching over to Sam and Joe to give them high-fives.

Before they knew it, all of the members of the new glee club (Tina struggled for days to find a new name for it) were cheering in the room. Even Sugar brought her hand around Kitty and hugged her as tightly as possible. Sure, she didn't like her much at first, but she was warming up to everyone in the room.

What Kitty didn't know was that Adriana and Samantha had been keeping a close eye on the freshman girl, watching her every move with conniving looks on their faces. Once everyone in the Spanish classroom was preparing to leave, Adriana and Samantha gave each other a high five before going their separate ways.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Well…the end of this chapter wasn't really planned, I'll admit that. But at least the story is going somewhere, right? They only need _six_ more members to join, and they'll have enough for competition! What did you guys think about this chapter?

Oh, and since this chapter was posted on 9/11, I just want to remind everyone to pray for those families that lost lives in this tragic event back in 2001. It means a lot to them. Once again, I hope you guys liked the story so far, and happy reading!


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note**: Wow, this took a long time to upload, and I apologize. I guess I've been tied down with homework for school and other stuff in my personal life. And hey, _Glee_ aired its fifth season. I didn't watch the episode, though, because the electricity went out in my home, and something about it made me didn't wanna watch it (I don't wanna rant about it because it'll just distract you guys from the story).

Anyways, without further ado, I present chapter thirteen of _Many Colors_. Happy reading, you guys!

**Featured Pairings**: Samtina (Sam/Tina), kissing!Finchel (Finn/Rachel), unrequited!Quoe (Quinn/Joe), Brittana (Brittany/Santana), Cohart (Tina/Joe)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything related to _Glee_. All of the rights to the show go to Ryan Murphy and Co., and Twentieth Century Fox.

* * *

**Many Colors  
**Chapter Thirteen

* * *

Sam caught himself speaking over the phone with Tina once again this week. Homework had been hell for him for the past few hours, and he had taken a break to find song selections on Finn's laptop for him and Artie to perform as their duet for the new glee club (or whatever it was going to be called, for the time being).

"You two seem to be right on it when it comes to this assignment," Tina told Sam on the other line while reading a _Teen People_ magazine and listening to _Ironic_ by Alanis Morissette. _Should Joe and I perform that for our duet?_ Tina questioned. Nah, probably not.

"You're telling me," Sam replied with a sigh. "Artie wanted to get in a hurry and get payback for not being chosen to perform Michael Jackson; so he's making me choose between _They Don't Really Care About Us_ or _Stranger In Moscow_." Sam shook his head, looking through more song suggestions on his laptop. "I don't know; maybe a mash-up with one of those and a song selection from me or something to get my input in, but…"

The Asian beauty girl chuckled, although trying not to. "You can't blame Artie for his idol and guilty pleasure."

Sam shrugged, admitting what Tina had said was true. Truth be told, when Sam first met Artie and asked him what his interests in music were, all he could talk about was the wild wonders of Michael Jackson, from his Motown special onward, and right back around again. When Sam heard the paraplegic's version of _Pretty Young Thing_, which was directed towards his then girlfriend, Brittany Pierce, he knew then and there that it was in Artie's heart and soul to be the spectacle that was Michael (as Mercedes mentioned to him once).

The blonde's eyebrow cocked on his head the moment he heard some moans and whatnot from next door. This had probably been the twelfth time that it has happened ever since Sam had moved into Finn's home. "Speaking of _pleasure_…" Sam trailed off to hear what sounded like Finn moaning from having Rachel's tongue down his esophagus – or an old man eating a Twinkie for the first time. Or both.

Tina huffed, showing not a bit of interest in her facial expressions whatsoever. "Don't tell me. Lip service next door?"

"More like _tongue_ service," Sam responded. "They've been at it for the past ten minutes already. I couldn't hear anymore, so I just searched stuff for our assignment."

Tina chuckled in agreement. "Yeah, I know. So, did you find a song that you wanted to use?" She went back the main topic of discussion.

"Well, not yet," Sam replied, "but I did find this one song that my parents told me I was conceived to."

Wait, what?

Tina made a confused, disgusted face. "Really?" she asked, cringing.

Sam sheepishly shrugged. "Yeah, I would've never known that, trust me." There was a five-second awkward pause in the conversation before the blonde spoke up again. "If you want, I could let you listen to a bit of it. The song, I mean; not –"

"I doubt your parents would allow me to watch them make Sam Evans in their master bedroom," Tina giggled.

Sam chuckled a bit before playing the song, _You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'_ by The Righteous Brothers on Finn's laptop. He placed his cell phone by the device's speakers so Tina could closely listen to the lyrics of the song.

Honestly, it wasn't a bad song. In fact, it sounded beautiful and meaningful, in a way, despite the fact that it was used to help conceive a child. Tina felt like she could be sent to sleep with this song, and given blissful dreams throughout the rest of the night. It made her wonder what Sam would sound like singing it, sometimes. After all, she never really heard him sing slow-paced songs.

"It…" Tina was almost speechless. "It's really good."

"Yeah, I know," Sam replied with a smile. There was another pause. "Still sounds kind of awkward coming from the fact that…"

"Yeah, kinda." Tina chuckled under her breath.

Sam had been so engaged in hearing Tina's reactions to the song that he didn't notice Finn enter the room and watch from the archway of the door. "Hey, dude," he spoke up, causing Sam to jump out of his own skin. "What are you up to?"

"Um – I – listening to music. Just being bored." Sam replied nervously.

Good thing Finn didn't take it too suspiciously or anything. "I'm gonna need that in about a few minutes," he explained with that quirky smile on his face.

"Sure thing," the blonde responded before Finn turned back around towards his bedroom, where Rachel was probably there waiting to "put on another show" for Finn or something.

Sam just didn't wanna know _what_, exactly.

* * *

School hadn't started yet, so Joe and Sugar decided to hang out in the school's library for a little bit and work on some assignments for some other classes. While they did so, they discussed the assignment they had to work on for the new glee club. From the looks of Sugar leaning against her hand, she was probably feeling so defeated, according to Joe.

"I just hope I can get this over with," Sugar told Teen Jesus. "That girl is a feisty cookie to crack. And quite stingy, too. She wouldn't even give me a solo line to sing in what's supposed to be our _duet_ for the new glee club."

Joe frowned at her. "But this is supposed to be a duets assignment to get new members."

"I know it is," Sugar explained, putting her pencil down beside her books, "but her way of gathering more people is totes not attractive. She literally had me choosing between sexy songs – anything from Nicki Minaj to Rihanna, and back. I swear, whenever I imagine us doing _Push It_ by Salt n Pepa, I feel like cringing every minute of my life."

"Wait…you're gonna do that for the assignment?" Joe asked, making a disgusted face just hearing the title of the song.

"Nah, she wants us to do a mash-up of Rihanna's _S&M_ and Katerina Graham's _Sassy_. Thank God it's nothing _that_ provocative – well, in Katerina's case – but still, I barely get to sing either way."

"Didn't you tell her?" Joe asked, concerned.

"I _did_. Twelve times. You don't know how hard it is to tell a girl how you feel." Sugar paused. "Well, you don't know how hard it is to tell _Kitty_ how you feel, really."

Joe went a little bit deeper into his thoughts about what Sugar just said. Truth be told, he really did know how hard it was to tell a girl how he felt. He had noticed Quinn Fabray enter the library three minutes into their conversation, and gazed at her as she made her way to the history section of the library. Man, she looked so beautiful. Actually, she _was_ beautiful, especially to Joe. The way her hair flew off her shoulders, how she strutted with each step, when she opened her mouth to speak to someone –

"Um, Joe? Earth to Hart, anyone?" the spoiled Motta's Pianos heiress called, snapping her fingers in Joe's face. The dreadlocked boy was suddenly alert and paying attention to Sugar once again.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sugar." Joe spoke as he pinched the bridge of his nose, clearing any and all distractions from his head.

Sugar crossed her arms in front of her chest, that smirk growing on her face. "I know what that was about."

"Y-you do?" Joe asked, nervous all of a sudden.

"No shit, Sherlock," Sugar responded with an attitude. "You have a crush on Fabray over there. I mean, it's obvious. You're, like, Gatsby from _The Great Gatsby_ book when it comes to her." This made Joe blush a bit. Sugar couldn't help but beam at the sight. "You never really asked her to be your girlfriend, have you?"

Joe looked up suddenly, not having the slightest idea on what to say back. "Well…I really like Quinn, I do," he explained. He picked at his fingers and bit his bottom lip, thinking back to every moment he spent in the living room of his home with his parents having daily lectures on the Bible. "And yes, I want her to be my girlfriend; but…my faith means everything to me."

"Well, duh," Sugar responded, "but if you keep restricting yourself from things, you'll miss out on what life brings you." She shrugged. "Not like it hasn't been like that for the first fifteen years of your life, but I won't judge." The strawberry-blonde sophomore started packing her things and preparing to leave the library. "But still, think about it for a little while," she added. "I gotta go. I found out that this senior loner keeps coming here to stalk me, and I have a growing fear that I might get raped or something."

Joe's eyes literally bugged out of his head. "Wait…what?"

"I'll see you later, Joe." Before Joe could say anything else, the rich girl quickly made her way to the entrance and speed-walked out to her locker.

Now alone at the table, Joe pushed his dreads back from his face, considering Sugar's words. Maybe she was right. After all, he had been kept away from all of the wonders in the world for fifteen years of his life, and he wasn't going to stop himself from crushing on the admirable Quinn Fabray. Should he talk to her? But what if she was busy? What if she rejected him on the spot? So many questions came up, and Joe got even more frantically frazzled by the minute.

Joe glanced down at some of the homework he had, and decided to take a break and grab a book from the shelves. This was probably the only tactic he had to approach her without feeling awkward or something – well, actually, that didn't really stop him from feeling awkward, either. My God, his legs were shaky. It wasn't supposed to be eighty-five degrees or anything, either, but Joe could feel sweat from the roots of his dreads.

And, by whatever law of anatomy, physics, some kind of friction – whatever the hell this was – Joe's pants were getting tighter as he took each step. Oh God, was that his –

"Oh, hell no." Joe immediately stopped, terrified to hear Santana's intimidating voice by his ear. How did she get so close by without Joe hearing her? Maybe he was too focused on his nerves or something. "Britts, hide your candy jar. The Christian perv is going to lay one on somebody."

Wait, what did she just call him?

Confused and worried, Joe took a couple of steps away from her, literally begging for mercy. "Please, Santana. I don't wanna make you upset or –"

"Isn't it a little late for that, Jason Momoa?" Santana retorted coldly.

Joe gulped as he watched Santana take a few steps closer to him, with Brittany leisurely standing on the side listening to some song from _My Little Pony_ on her IPod. Looks like it's Joe up against Santana, with no one to defend him in any which way.

"Here's what's going to go down, less attractive version of Jason Castro," Santana began, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I'm sure you remember that porcelain-faced, clover-eating moron by the name of Rory Flanagan, right? Nod your head if you understand." Joe nodded, wincing at the things she called the poor Irish foreign exchange student. "Now I know you're not aware of this, being that no one in the world even knew you existed, but that little brat had been trying to get to my girl's pot of gold." She paused to find Joe's reaction in his face. "No, hon. Not the actual pot of gold; her _vagina_."

Joe's eyes closed shut, trying to erase the memory of that word ever coming out of Santana's mouth.

"Just for the record, my pot of gold doesn't have actual gold," Brittany explained randomly from behind Santana, "though it does have some good stuff in it like gold." Okay, that was too much for Joe to take in.

"I'm gonna say this once, and you had better understand," Santana continued. "Nod your head if you'll understand." Nervous, Joe nodded once again. "We kind of have an ongoing history of your kind around here. You know, the ones that can't seem to keep their own testicles from aiming higher than the Sears Tower. Now, I don't know who you're crushing on or anything. It could be my girl, Britt, my other home-girl, Fabray, or even Mrs. Bletheim, that one teacher who can't seem to find retirement as an option after working here for over forty years. Either way, I don't wanna see your ass trying to cop a feel on anyone, or the razors in my hair will tear those sorry extensions you call dreads." The Latina paused and gave Joe a sweet yet kinda creepy grin on her face. "You got it, sweetness?"

Stuttering uncontrollably, Joe finally answered. "Y-yes, Santana. I'm sorry, I promise." He backed away once more, his left hand reaching up to grip at his right shoulder. This would probably be harder on him than he thought, being that he got a clear idea on what Santana would probably do when she found out that Joe had wanted to speak with Quinn about a relationship.

Without saying anything else, Santana slapped the boy hard on his right arm, startling him a bit, and walked past him with Brittany following close behind, grabbing onto Santana's arm. Brittany replayed the music on her IPod when Santana nudged her a bit, feeling annoyed. "I got the penis touch for sure."

There was a growing, melancholy feeling in Joe's stomach that things with him and Quinn weren't going to work out as well. He really wanted them too, but his faith wasn't the only thing keeping him from confessing it all to Quinn. _Ugh, what am I going to do?_

* * *

"Okay, try again," Tina told the dreadlocked teen once again while sitting at the piano in the choir room during their lunch time. The two had been practicing runs, notes – pretty much anything else they needed for the duet they're planning to perform for the new glee club's assignment. "Start from low-C, and work your way up. Okay?"

Joe nodded, almost confused but starting to get the gist of it. "Okay…" Unsteadily, he sang along with Tina as they were practicing some _ahs_ as the Asian girl pressed a different key on the piano. Joe suddenly heard a crack come from his voice, and stopped immediately to hold his hand up to his neck. "I'm sorry, Tina. I keep messing up."

"No, no, it's okay," Tina explained. "It happens a lot, trust me." Joe nodded, though he was still nervous a bit on the inside. Tina pressed the same keys in the exact order she did previously. "Come on, try again."

Nervously, but bravely at the same time, Joe took a deep breath and followed Tina's lead as she sang a few more _ahs_ to keep their practicing going along. This time, Joe didn't crack. He thought he sounded better than before. Tina thought the same, for she glanced over at him with that impressed look on her face. "That was awesome!" she exclaimed, which made Joe blush. "Really, Joe. You're getting better and better."

Joe was proud of himself for the progress he was making. Well, not just his progress, but the whole group's progress. There they were, coming up with ways to get their show choir together and stand out in the spotlight. It was all coming together.

However, while he was glad that things were coming along, he was feeling a bit down about something else. Tina noticed it when his head slightly fell, with his eyes focused on the piano keys before him. That whole issue with Santana earlier had hit him hard, and it was only putting on more pressure for him about confronting Quinn and confessing his feelings about her. He wanted to tell Tina about it, but he wasn't positive if he should.

"Joe, is something wrong?" Well, Tina was really the one to bring it up first, so Joe didn't have much of a choice.

"Well, two, really," Joe spoke up. He took a deep breath, sorting out how he was going to tell Tina about his problems. It's not like he hasn't done so before, because he confronted her about Santana multiple times. In a way, this wasn't any different, but at the same time, it technically brought on another problem. "Santana's still kind of bothering me in between classes and such. I'm trying to get over it, but she just keeps coming back in my mind somehow."

"How so?" Tina asked, concerned.

"Well…" Joe took another deep breath. "I have this…well, crush, on someone. It's been a while since I first liked them, really. I haven't gotten the urge to go up to them and speak with them yet." Joe paused. "Well, I was going to in the library today before classes started." Joe stopped for a moment as Santana's words came back to his mind. They sounded so horrifying to him; he didn't think he'd make it out of this school alive. "But then Santana saw me…"

"What did she say to you when she noticed you?" Tina asked, placing a hand on Joe's leg to comfort him. All it did, though, was have him worked up a bit to talk with Tina about the situation.

"Well…" Joe started to make a disgusted facial expression as he looked down at his lap. He wasn't sure how comfortable he would be telling a girl about his feelings. His _physical_ feelings, really. And by that…well…yeah, that down-South problem Joe was having every time he spotted Quinn Fabray when they would walk past each other in the hallway. "At the moment I was going to get up and talk to the person, I started having…_feelings_." He looked up at Tina and noticed that she still didn't understand what he was saying. So he clarified it for her, though a bit quieter. "Down…there."

Tina inched an eyebrow on her forehead, having a clear idea on what Teen Jesus meant. "I see," she responded, which made Joe look away, embarrassed. "Well, Joe, it's not wrong for you to have feelings for someone. It's perfectly natural."

"Santana doesn't want me around the girl, though," Joe added, disappointed.

"Why? Who is it that you have a crush on?"

Joe sighed, and after a three-second silence, he spoke up. "Quinn Fabray."

Tina wholesomely smiled back at the dreadlocked boy. She understood how admirable Quinn was to the whole school. Hell, she's the most popular girl, aside from Brittana, who tends to stick by Quinn since they're a part of the Unholy Trinity. However, though, Quinn did have a rough past with boys. She had gotten pregnant by Noah Puckerman, cheated on Sam and Finn – especially Sam, even after the promise ring thing Sam told her about. Maybe that's why Santana was so concerned about it.

Then again, Quinn could look out for herself, and Joe was probably one the kindest boys in the whole school, although he got bullied a lot by the popular students. Tina didn't understand what Santana's obsession with bullying Joe was, but he wouldn't cause any harm if he were to be Quinn's boyfriend. He'd most likely help her with any problem she had, if anything, before she graduated out of high school.

"I know Quinn would never hook up with me or anything," Joe confessed, his fingers tapping against each other, "and I'm kind of conflicted with my religious beliefs and all, but…I don't know. Something's telling me that Quinn is…well, the _one_ for me, you know?"

"That's relatable and understandable, Joe," Tina told him. "It's perfectly normal for someone to have a crush on someone else. No one should stop you because of it. Besides, whether you and Quinn actually work it out and become a couple or not, you two would still look cute together either way."

That wild grin appeared back on Joe's face, and it made Tina smile herself. It made her heart soften to see someone she knew so in love. She wasn't sure if Quinn would be available to have an ongoing relationship with Joe (maybe not a dating relationship, since she's going to leave Ohio soon), but she just wanted to see Joe happy. And he was. He couldn't get over the former Cheerio, and Tina felt that no one should blame him for it.

The Asian girl turned back to some papers that were sitting on top of the piano. They were the song lyrics the duo were supposed to practice to bring in new members for their new club. She grabbed them, and brought back Joe's attention. "Ready to practice and see what we've got?"

This time, Joe nodded, sure of himself. "I'm ready."

Tina walked over to a blue radio that had been sitting on the floor beside the piano, and the music for P!nk's _Who Knew_ started playing. It made Tina want to dance a bit with Joe, who started the song off with his solo part.

_**Joe  
**__You took my hand  
__You showed me how  
__You promised me you'd be around  
__Uh huh  
__That's right_

A smile spread on Joe's face when he saw Tina twirling and dancing along with the music.

_**Tina  
**__I took your words  
__And I believed  
__In everything you said to me  
__Yeah huh  
__That's right_

Tina had her hands out, her left extended further out than the right, and beckoned Joe to get out of his seat and dance with her. Joe couldn't resist, for he jumped up and started doing a little tango with Tina as the song got into the chorus.

_**Joe and Tina  
**__If someone said three years from now  
__You'd be long gone  
__I'd stand up and punch them out  
_'_Cause they're all wrong  
__I know better  
_'_Cause you said forever  
__And ever  
__Who knew?_

Tina had been listening to the lyrics of the song closely, and realized that she could connect with them so well. It fit this situation she and Joe were in at that moment. She was the only one Joe could come to when he was having a problem with little things like homework, or huge dilemmas like Santana bullying him and his crush on Quinn. Tina remembered the first real interaction she had with Joe when he was first being bullied. Even back then, she reminded Joe that she would be there for him.

And she proved herself right. He _was_ there for him.

_**Joe with Tina  
**__(__**Tina**__: Yeah, yeah)  
__I'll keep you locked in my head  
__Until we meet again  
__(__**Tina**__: Until we, until we meet again)_

_**Tina  
**__And I won't forget you, my friend  
__What happened?_

_**Joe and Tina  
**__If someone said three years from now  
__You'd be long gone  
__I'd stand up and punch them out  
_'_Cause they're all wrong and_

_**Tina  
**__That last kiss I'll cherish_

_**Joe  
**__Until we meet again_

_**Joe and Tina  
**__And time makes it harder_

_**Tina  
**__I wish I could remember_

_**Joe  
**__But I keep_

_**Tina  
**__Your memory_

_**Joe  
**__You visit me in my sleep_

_**Joe and Tina  
**__My darling  
__Who knew?  
__My darling, my darling  
__Who knew?  
__My darling, I miss you  
__My darling  
__Who knew?  
__Who knew?_

Both out of breath but having fun at the same time, Tina and Joe took a seat in the audience chairs in the choir room, both smiling at their progress with their duet for the assignment. Tina turned to Joe, grinning proudly. "You were so amazing."

"So were you," Joe complimented her back. "I think this duet assignment is going to be fun."

Tina smiled wholeheartedly at Joe's enthusiasm for the progress of their new glee club. It was fun hanging out with him and knowing that he was willing to be friendly and encouraging with anyone and anything. It was the most peaceful sight to set eyes on.

"Oh, lookie here," a voice called, which made Joe tense up a bit at the sound of it. Santana had shown up with a couple of Cheerios behind her. Brittany was nowhere in sight. Maybe she was trying to crack open a textbook, for once. Well, that was what Tina wanted to say out loud, but she knew she couldn't since Santana would go Lima Heights on her. "We seem to have company." Santana turned to Tina, and then to Joe. "Hello there, Cohen-Wang. Joner."

_Joner?_ Tina furrowed her eyes at Santana's nickname for Joe. Clearly, this was getting out of hand. The Asian even noticed Joe moving uncomfortably in his seat at the name Santana gave her. _Screw the Cohen-Wang shit; she needs to stop messing with Joe_, Tina thought.

"Nice one, Santana," one of the Cheerios spoke up. "Did you think up that one while Bible Thumper arose for the next coming of Jesus?" The three Cheerios at the door started to laugh, and Joe got uncomfortable once again.

"Screw that; he's Jesus when he was fifteen years old," Santana replied. "Poor guy must've gotten lost in his time machine." The Latina whirled around and whispered towards the girls behind her. "Watch out, though. He probably searches the streets for the next pair of banana peels to split open, if you know what I mean." Santana didn't seem like a good whisperer, for Tina and Joe heard the whole comment from steps away.

"Santana, we've had enough of your petty bullshit," Tina barked, making her way from the seats towards the door where Santana had been standing. "Joe didn't do anything wrong; you're just making fun of him because he's new to this school, and you wanted to start beef with him. And what's this I'm hearing about you not wanting him near Quinn?"

"The whole school knows what kind of person he is," Santana began.

"He's not what you think he is."

"Good luck explaining that to the rest of the McKinley students," Santana replied with a shrug. "He's the number one biggest loser in this school, and perhaps one of the next horny perverts to cause more shit in Quinn Fabray's life. Besides, what would the girl want with him anyway? He's nothing. Nothing but a dread-headed piece of trash." Joe cringed at Santana's words.

"Santana, you're going to stop talking about him, or I'll end up doing something I won't regret," Tina said, her fists balled up by her sides, ready to punch Santana in the jaw.

"I seriously wish you would," Santana responded, noticing Tina's hands at her sides, "and then Figgins and Mr. Schue would be hearing about this. Then you'll be suspended like you should've been when you attacked Jew Berry in the hallway last week."

_That damn Santana Lopez_, Tina thought in the back of her mind. If Tina got suspended, then she wouldn't be able to work with the other members of the new glee club, and then trouble would go downhill for everyone who joined. Tina's balled fists loosened as she gave Santana a defeated yet furious look. The Latina just smirked back. "I thought so," she responded. With that, she and the Cheerios exited the choir room, leaving Tina and Joe inside.

Joe was just sitting there, worried as ever for Tina and himself. He knew Tina meant well and all, but he wouldn't want Tina to get suspended just because she was helping him with his problems. He watched as the Asian beauty walked over and grabbed Joe's hands.

"Don't focus on her, Joe," Tina explained, gripping onto his hands. "She's not going to hurt you any way possible. She doesn't know what we're made of."

"What we're made of?" Joe repeated. He sounded a bit hurt about what Santana said about him being nothing. Joe was more than nothing; he was _something_, if anything. Ugh, Tina wished she had the chance to slap Santana just once so she would know what pain felt like.

But she knew she couldn't. She had to set the right example for Joe.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Well, what did you guys think about this update? I was randomly looking up possible duets Tina and Joe could perform in this chapter, and P!nk's song came up. I'm glad that I used it because it made me think about how awesome it would sound if they performed that together. Unfortunately, though, it's unconfirmed if Joe is coming back to the show or not. And what about the Brittana/Santana/Sugar/Samtina scenes? I thought that last part with Sugar was kinda weird, honestly, but I had to add more comedy in it.

Thanks for reading, you guys. Can't wait to publish the next chapter, and I can't wait to see any possible reviews I get from you guys!

* * *

**Featured Songs**:  
"Who Knew" by P!nk. Sung by Joe and Tina.


End file.
